Portugal

[PT] Presidency of the Council of Ministers will advise the Government on media issues

IRIS 2015-6:1/31

Mariana Lameiras & Helena Sousa

United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) & Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho

The Portuguese Government will abolish the Office for Media (Gabinete para os Meios de Comunicação Social - GMCS) at the end of the year, as determined by Law Decree no. 24/2015 of 6 February 2015. The date has been settled, while the transfer of responsibilities assigned to this body to the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers will take place on 31 December. The plan is to keep part of the Office’s team members (currently approximately 30 persons) in a smaller unit near the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to continue advising the Government on media issues.

The Office for Media is a central service under direct state administration, endowed with administrative autonomy, but dependent on the Minister of State and Regional Development (to which media issues are delegated). It is in charge of advising the Government on the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies for the media and of ensuring the allocation and supervision of state incentives for the sector. In particular, with the abolition of this body, its responsibilities will be distributed by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Commissions of Regional Coordination and Development (CCDR) and the Agency for Development and Cohesion. Both Law Decrees no. 22/2015 and no. 23/2015 have defined that managing incentives and support for local and regional media should be transferred to the Commissions of Regional Coordination and Development, based on the idea that a more rigorous evaluation will result from the proximity between the decision-makers and beneficiaries (preamble of Law Decree no. 24/2015).

The body to be abolished was created in 2007 in substitution of the Institute of Social Communication (Instituto da Comunicação Social), under the PRACE programme (Restructuring Programme for Public Administration) during the first government led by José Sócrates. At that time, some of the Institute’s competences were also transferred to the state media regulator (Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social - ERC, established in 2005).


References

  • Decreto-Lei n.º 24/2015 - Procede à extinção do Gabinete para os Meios de Comunicação Social e à transferência das suas atribuições para a Secretaria-Geral da Presidência do Conselho de Ministros, para as comissões de coordenação e desenvolvimento regional e para Agência para o Desenvolvimento e Coesão, I. P. Publicada no Diário da República, 1ª Série, n.º 26, de 2015-02-06
  • https://dre.pt/application/file/66432648
  • Law Decree no. 24/2015 of 6 February, published in the official news bulletin “Diário da República” no. 26, 1st series, 6 February 2015

  • Decreto-Lei n.º 22/2015 - Procede à primeira alteração ao Decreto-Lei n.º 98/2007, de 2 de abril, que aprova o regime do incentivo à leitura de publicações periódicas. Publicada no Diário da República, 1ª Série, n.º 26, de 2015-02-06
  • https://dre.pt/web/guest/home/-/dre/66443110/details/maximized?p_auth=ELVSjaD9
  • Law Decree no. 22/2015 of 6 February, published in the official news bulletin “Diário da República” no. 26, 1st series, 6 February 2015

  • Decreto-Lei n.º 23/2015 - Aprova o novo regime de incentivos do Estado à comunicação social. Publicada no Diário da República, 1ª Série, n.º 26, de 2015-02-06
  • https://dre.pt/web/guest/home/-/dre/66443111/details/maximized?p_auth=ELVSjaD9
  • Law Decree no. 23/2015 of 6 February, published in the official news bulletin “Diário da República” no. 26, 1st series, 6 February 2015

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.