The acquisition by ALTICE (a french
multinational PT’s owner – Portugal Telecom) of Media Capital - proprietary of
TVI (Independent Television) and other means of social communication, has
generated strong criticism from Prime Minister António Costa. Several personalities
already claimed, especially the main opposition leader, Pedro Passos Coelho
(PPC) there had never been such a ferocious attack on a private company by a
government.
Perhaps there might be some overreaction
in PPC’s words highlighting this situation, as the largest attack on a private
company. We just have to recall Jose Socrates and his altercations, when
somebody or some company opposed to what he intended. Socrates was close to
being able to fully dominate the banking and the media systems, according to
his interests. It just did not fulfill “all the requirements”, due to the
economic crisis in 2011.
Now again with the Socialist
Party (SP) in power, and with former supporters and members of the Socrates’ Government
occupying key positions, it seems there are signs that the SP intends to
control the media in all its fullness.
What we have now and for a
long time is a subservience of the portuguese media with regard the power
instituted, namely when the Socialists are in government.
Obviously António Costa would
not mention such a "heresy" that was highlighted here! He preferred
to go the easy way. Supported by his allied parties, the Left Bloc and the
Communist Party, he condemned a possible collective dismissal of workers by
ALTICE – a common situation in this company which is known for its aggressive business
policy. In addition, for the first time he had the courage to admit SIRESP’s (Integrated
System of Emergency and Security Networks of Portugal) failures in the fire fighting,
only to have the opportunity to criticize PT's communications.
ALTICE, for its part, does not
seem to completely rule out a reduction of emplyees, enhancing that PT has more
than double the workers compared to competitors such as NOS and Vodafone. The idea of the
French multinational, as stressed by the President of PT "is continuing
the process of labor streamlining”.
ALTICE’s business isn’t
assured yet, and there will be a strong opposition from the State. The
competitor NOS, has already outlined it is ready for the telecommunications and
media “war”.
The portuguese have to understand that the rule
of law requires freedom and impartiality of the media as well as fair
competition and ruling out monopolies.
We don’t know yet what
ALTICE's real intentions are. Nevertheless, if you want to promote an outstanding
service with independent news, that is already a good step forward.
Miguel Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of
International Relations
No comments:
Post a Comment