Artur Portela (Filho) and the marks of a unique brand of irreverence in Jornal Novo and Opção

Abstract

The history of the Portuguese press after the 25 April 1974 coup is indissociable from the story of journalists and especially those who took on executive positions and marked the personality of periodicals. Artur Portela Filho is a prime example when one notes how much of himself is in the two publications he headed from their launch: Jornal Novo (1975) and Opção (1976-78), the first newspaper and the first newsmagazine founded after the overturn of Estado Novo, both privately funded. Irreverent and audacious, Artur Portela (1937-2020) named himself “independent socialist” and used satire and the quality of writing to create two projects which would become unmatched milestones in Portuguese journalism by their manner of committedly reporting on and criticising processes as well as political and military leaders. This paper maps Portela’s influence on the matrixes of Jornal Novo and Opção, and identifies the cross-sectional elements that emanate from the figure of the editor-in-chief.