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- Fighting for a regime change through active listeningPublication . Ribeiro, NelsonThis article presents a case of political participation through radio broadcasting during World War II. Focusing on how the Portuguese listeners interacted with the transborder broadcasts from the BBC, it demonstrates how politically engaged citizens struggled to use a foreign station to disseminate their views on the country’s po- litical situation. Grounded on Pateman’s (1970) and Carpentier’s (2011) definitions of different levels of participation, it demonstrates that listeners were not given the ability to achieve full or maximal participation due to limitations imposed by organizational and political structures. Departing from this case, the article also reflects on how audi- ences interact with “traditional media”, questioning the widespread idea of radio listen- ers as passive agents and suggesting that an understanding of the political and social contexts in which media participation takes place is essential to ascertain the levels of empowerment given to the audiences.
- Salazar’s interference in the BBC Portuguese Service during World War IIPublication . Ribeiro, NelsonThis article presents a case study on the limits of the BBC Overseas Service’s journalistic independence during World War II. Not only editorial policy but also the personnel hired by the BBC Portuguese Service were subject to pressure from Salazar through the Foreign Office. How the Lisbon government was made aware of the events taking place inside the Portuguese Service and which strategies were used to interfere in its editorial line are discussed. This history presents clear evidence of how the BBC was required to trim its output in order to avoid diplomatic problems arising between the British and the Portuguese governments.
- Objectivity versus ‘Toxic Propaganda’: the case of transborder broadcasts to Portugal during World War IIPublication . Ribeiro, NelsonThis article describes the role of foreign radio propaganda in Portugal in the years that preceded and the years during World War II. It demonstrates how the BBC became the most effective weapon to counterattack the German propaganda in the country and comments on the strategies used by the British in order to reach the Portuguese public. Among those strategies the most important was the promotion of the objectivity of the broadcasts from London, as opposed to the German transmissions that were known for airing mainly ‘toxic propaganda’. Evidence is also presented according to which news bulletins and talks broadcast by the BBC were perceived by the receivers as independent from political interference while the Axis transmissions were mostly considered as airing ‘toxic information’, demonstrating how during the war British white propaganda became very effective in regards to its impact on the Portuguese public.
- Political interference on the airwaves: the BBC broadcasts to Portugal during the Second World WarPublication . Ribeiro, NelsonThe article analyses the impact of foreign broadcasts in Portugal during the Second World War as well as the communication strategies adopted by both German and British transmissions in the Portuguese language. After demonstrating that the broadcasts from the Axis powers were mainly composed of blatant propaganda, particular attention is given to the BBC. The British station, which was the most effective in reaching the Portuguese public, promoted itself as a credible source that offered reliable and unbiased news despite the fact that, as the article demonstrates, it trimmed its output to meet considerations imposed by the Foreign Office.