Abstract

GODINHO, Jacinto. The public television, RTP showed “May 68” in France and hid the “academic crisis of 1969”. Why?. Media & Jornalismo [online]. 2019, vol.19, n.35, pp.211-222. ISSN 1645-5681.  https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_35_14.

This article seeks to deepen the reflection about the political impact of television journalism during the final period of the Portuguese dictatorship. The public television, RTP, has been thought of as one of the last bastions of the regime of Salazar and Caetano, used primarily as a mean of propaganda. The predominance of men close to the regime in the command of the television information and the governmentalization of news programs with the exclusion of topics related to the opposition or any other matter that displeased the government lead to the conclusion that RTP can only be seen as an instrument that helped to prolong the dictatorship. But analyzing two similar cases of student protests, “May 68” in France, and the “academic crisis of 1969”, in Coimbra, we found that RTP strategy was completely opposite. Analyzing the television news, we find that RTP covered largely the events in France that led to the closure of the Sorbonne University in May 1968, but a year later, in April 1969, RTP decided not to cover any of the students protests that also led to the closure of the University, the police intervention and the arrest of dozens of students. RTP showed international events and concealed internal ones. What reasons can explain this strange information strategy? We suggest a new interpretation of the New State image policy and we raise the hypothesis that television in Portugal has been an evanescent mediator of the dictatorial regime.

Keywords : RTP; academic crisis of 1969; May 68; evanescent mediator; secrecy show.

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