The Lisbon floods of 1967 as a media event at Rádio Clube Português

Abstract

On the night of November 25, 1967 a rain and mud strikes Lisbon unexpectedly. In a state with no responsiveness and no censorship devices capable of containing the inevitable torrent of information about such an event, the tragedy proves to be brutal and too visible. The event has overwhelming numbers, which censorship attempts but cannot fully control. Before the next morning’s headlines, it is through Rádio Clube Português, in a continuous broadcast that contrasts with the silence of the Estado Novo official station, that the first news about the floods are heard. This article addresses the 1967 catastrophe as a media event, using qualitative analysis of RCP archival sounds and interviews with former journalists of the station. The empirical object is historically framed and studied, within the scope of media studies, in the light of the theories of the event of authors such as Dayan and Katz, Kepplinger and Habermeier, Nora or Quéré.