Censorship in the news: understanding social inequalities in Portuguese printed news in the second world war

Twentieth-century Portuguese history is marked by the longest autocratic regime of Western Europe, the Estado Novo. Throughout this period, the state instructed its Censorship Office to ensure that news outlets would not only portray a magnanimous regime but also project the image of a prosperous and secure country. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the government chose to position the country as neutral in the conflict, instructing the censors to prevent information about the war or its impact from dominating the news at that time. In contrast, this article analyses the content of the newspaper O Século,aiming at understanding the social inequalities felt by the population and the real impact of the war on the country. It demonstrates that the censorship and propaganda apparatus was able to create an echo chamber and project the view of a country unaffected by the conflict – a prosperous nation without social problems or inequality. In reality,however, the effect on the population was hidden from view, demonstrating how the state was able to silence the truth.