Coimbra, PORTUGAL – In the 21st century, the way of reading news has changed. Newspapers sales have fallen, and online subscriptions have increased. This is a reality in most of the countries and Portugal is one example.
In Portugal in early 2023, there was a 13% drop in the sales of printed papers and an increase in online subscriptions of almost 6%, according to the website MejosePublicidade.
In other words, 81% of the Portuguese population read the news online, according to Eurostat.
To know more about the situation in local Portuguese newsrooms, a YJI reporter visited two different ones.
Castelo Branco
Castelo Branco is a small city near Spain which has four newspapers, most of them published online. Gazeta do Interior is one of the few newspapers that is also sold every Wednesday in Castelo Branco.
António Tavares is the director of Gazeta do Interior and the only one who does everything: he writes the news, searches for sources, checks the information and negotiates with local advertisers about which adverts will appear in Wednesday’s printed edition.
“There used to be six of us (journalists) working here,” said Tavares. “With the various crises and the drop in paper sales, many of them left the paper. Nowadays, I am the only one who does all the journalistic work. I only have a colleague who helps me with the layout.”
Tavares explained the difference between a local newspaper and a national one, saying that national newspapers do not cover news from a city like Castelo Branco, only what happens in places like Lisbon or Porto.
The audience is also different, as local news matters more to the older population than to the young.
The local press is not widely read by youth but national newspapers don’t offer the close to home journalism that a local newspaper does.
Tavares believes that newspapers are not going to disappear.
“When I was young, I always heard that newspapers were going to disappear. After a long career as a journalist, I haven’t seen that happen,” Tavares said. “It’s true that online news is more widely read, but even if few people still buy newspapers, they are not going to disappear.”
Tavares emphasized an upside of working in a local newspaper rather than in a national one – he is not stressed.
“If I worked for a national newspaper, I would not be able to enjoy the advantages that I have here, which are innumerable,” Tavares said. “I can go home and have lunch with my family every day, come back to the newsroom and finish the news, check the information better, among others.”
Coimbra
Dina Margato, a former journalist at Jornal de Notícias who is currently a professor at Miguel Torga Superior Institute in Coimbra, agreed with Tavares’ vision of how local and national media treats the news.
“It’s completely different. A national newspaper doesn’t always have the staff to deal with local news. Regional editions have practically ceased to exist,” Margato said.
“Newsrooms are getting smaller and smaller,” Margato continued, “and you can’t cover every issue. On the other hand, there are still very local issues that only journalists who are on the ground can have the sensitivity to deal with them properly.”
Margato shared a different vision about the disappearance of newspapers. What matters, he said, is quality journalism that serves citizens. The paper can survive with a more noble accommodation for journalism, he said, as if it were a book, for example.
As for the model, companies have to adapt. Journalists can’t maintain 20th century business models in the 21st century, said Margato.
“Regional news also has to adapt to social networks. Regional journalism has to address everyone if it wants to succeed. Digital journalism is not a copy-paste of print journalism. It has very specific characteristics and involves doing journalism in a different way,” added Margato.
João Luís Campos, the editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper Diário de Coimbra, said the main challenge for the print media is the business model. Online information has to be paid for and local newspapers may have an advantage in this area because they have a lot of exclusive content and are closer to their readers.
The main challenge, editorially speaking, is managing content between online and paper and between free access and paid access, according to Campos. Choices in this field are a major challenge.
“Regional information must, of course, choose the best media to reach the various audiences. And it must have a strong presence on social media. A regional newspaper is almost always more widely read than the national media,” added Campos.
The media in Portugal face several challenges and it is clear that while national media has much more importance than the regional media, local papers still manage to survive.
David Carmena is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
