Uma nação a falar consigo mesma:o Independente (1988-1995)

Uma Nação a Falar Consigo Mesma: O Independente (1988-1995) [A Nation Talking to Itself – O Independente (1988-1995)] aims to study the weekly newspaper O Independente in the period between 1988 and 1995. These dates coincide with Aníbal Cavaco Silva’s governance, when Portugal joined the EEC and significant changes occurred in Portuguese society. O Independente was a privileged witness of that time and by questioning the general euphoria, it proposed an alternative view of the official discourse, which looked upon European integration as the means of making Portugal a modern and civilized nation. This dissertation addresses three dimensions of the weekly newspaper, namely, O Independente as a journalistic, an ideological and an aesthetic project. These dimensions are, in turn, related with aspects such as the front-page headlines and the dissemination of political scandals; the defense of political and ideological causes; the cavaquismo critique; Paulo Portas’ journey from journalist to politician and Miguel Esteves Cardosos’s chronicles and texts, which exemplify the emergence of the literary aspect within the newspaper. O Independente never concealed being right-wing, conservative and democratic. Controversial, innovative, iconoclastic, its journalism was many times disruptive and it was able to invent new forms of expression, always with one goal: to be an active voice in the community.