“Fortunately, Lusa has given clear evidence that it is independent in its operations and, more particularly, with regard to the editorial component. We want to reinforce this to prepare ourselves for any eventuality,” said the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, after visiting the agency.
The Government is working to find a “statutory solution” that reinforces the levels of independence of Lusa’s Board of Directors and different social bodies, he pointed out, adding that this may involve an “intermediate layer” that does not depend on the Government.
For the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Lusa must maintain its regular activity, “regardless of changes in ministers or the Government or changes in the opinion of a minister or Government. Lusa must be immune to this.”
The minister visited the agency’s headquarters this afternoon, where he met with Lusa’s Administration and Management.
At the end of the meeting, he visited the agency’s work areas and made some statements.
Pedro Duarte mentioned that the Government has a “very firm intention” to value Lusa’s role, especially in the current “challenging times,” with information circulating “massively,” which he said brings problems, particularly regarding the factuality of events.
Thus, as he said, it is important to have a public service, through Lusa, that continues to be an example of “rigor and credibility,” which should be preserved and valued.
At the end of July, the State bought 45.71% of Global Media and Páginas Civilizadas’ participation in Lusa for 2.49 million euros, now holding 95.86% of the news agency’s capital.
The contracts were signed at Lusa’s facilities in Lisbon, between the deputy director of the Treasury and Finance Directorate-General, Lurdes Castro, representing the State, Marco Galinha, from Páginas Civilizadas, and Vitor Coutinho, Diogo Queirós de Andrade and Mafalda Campos Forte, from the Global Media group.
With this decision, the State becomes the owner of 95.86% of the Portuguese news agency’s capital.
The previous Government, led by António Costa (PS), intended to proceed with the purchase of Global Media and Páginas Civilizadas’ shares, but on November 30, 2023, the deal failed due to “lack of broad political consensus,” having now been resumed by the PSD/CDS executive, led by Luís Montenegro, who took office in April.
Pedro Duarte emphasized today that this reinforcement of the position in Lusa’s share capital was important, as there was difficulty in aligning objectives with the previous shareholders, given that these were different from the public service objectives.
“We want to value Lusa, both by trying to initiate important technological modernization to keep up with the times ahead, and by trying to make Lusa’s high-quality service reach more people, first and foremost, more media outlets,” he emphasized.
However, the minister acknowledged that making Lusa’s service free “might not be a good path,” noting that there are many doubts that this “has more advantages than disadvantages.”
The free service of Lusa could lead to a uniformity of information, with the same source, “circulating to everyone and everywhere,” he warned, stressing that Lusa does not exist to replace the various media outlets.
The holder of the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio added that the solution may thus involve the price of Lusa’s service packages sold to clients.
“We can also thus help with regard to the cost structure” of these media outlets, he concluded.
