Populism in Portugal:

the media factor

Abstract

Populist parties have achieved electoral success in Europe overtaking parties that have dominated the party system in recent decades. The explanations for the success of these parties have centered essentially on economic inequalities between coun- tries, insecurity and an increase in immigration and in the number of refugees. The importance of populism cannot be ignored today. In Portugal, the party system has remained stable with two hegemonic parties at the center (Socialist Party and Social Democratic Party) alternating between them in power, with or without coalitions with smaller parties on the right or with agreements on the left, the latter in the 2016-2019 legislature. The 2019 legislative elections, however, caused a “shake-up” in the stability of the system with the entry into Parliament of three new political formations and the weakening of the two parties located to the right of the parliamentary spectrum. Based on conceptual approaches to populism, this article seeks manifestations of this phenomenon in the political discourse of the líder of the new parliamentary party Chega, as represented in the press and on television, on the occasion of three events that achieved great media coverage. The analysis seeks to understand the extent to which the media can act as catalysts or inhibitors of populist causes and feelings. Discourse analysis and content analysis are the main analysis tools used.