Imagens da Europa no jornal A Bola: entre o isolamento do Estado Novo e a abertura europeia

Abstract

The commercially successful Portuguese sports press is not generally viewed as a source of historical knowledge, while it has been valued in other areas of study. Its social role is underrated, even ignored, despite its circulation numbers being superior to regular newspapers, thus reaching a broader audience. This article begins by making a case for this source, evaluating its role in historical research when compared with other areas of knowledge. It is followed by a case-study featuring the inclusion of non-sports news in the sports press - specifically, a sample of texts from the sports newspaper A Bola, published between 1945 and 1986, where we analyse what was said about a few European countries by the newspaper's reporters on their travels abroad (accompanying football clubs and the Portuguese National Football Team) in different periods of time, with and without the presence of a censorship apparatus.