The memory of a dictator in portuguese newspaper!

Mata, Maria J.

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/7846

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
The memory of a dictator in portuguese Newspaper-ECREA.pdf		148.25 KB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Mata, Maria J.

Abstract(s)

This paper is part of a larger (phd) study on how the Portuguese journalism shaped? during the first decade of this century – the memory of Antonio Oliveira Salazar, prime minister of ‘Estado Novo’, the dictatorship that preceded the democratic revolution of April 25, 1974. Salazar is the most important figure of the Portuguese political history in the recent past and his image and regime doctrine left a legacy that by the end of the last century seemed silenced. In the first decade of the new century, Salazar seemed to “return”: plus many books, some films and TV series, portuguese journalism was producing several works that recalled or present different aspects of his life and his regime, in a memory labour that was important to understand. In this context, it was made a survey of the articles published in four portuguese newspapers (two daily and two weekly) and of the news exhibited by the three main portuguese television channels, between 2000 to 2010. These were analysed according to previously established variables, with a particular focus on visual images, as we consider its particular potentialities in the (re)construction of memory of people and past events. Here, we present some results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the articles and the photos published in the press. These allow us to verify trends, patterns and memory production strategies and to conclude that the dictator's collective memory is strongly rooted in the present and journalism tends to crystallize his symbolic value, which circulates as an empty significant (Barthes) available for the appropriations required by journalism.

Keywords

Salazar, António de Oliveira (1889-1970) Journalism Memory

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/7846

Citation

MATA, Maria José - The memory of a dictator in portuguese Newspaper! In: ECREA: 6th European Communication Conference: Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contestign Past, Presents and Futures, Prague, Czech Republic, (Prague Congress Centre), 2016 (09-12 november)