Lisbon, Sept. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal dropped nine percentage points in the Monitoring of Media Pluralism in the European Union (MPM), falling from 7th place in 2022, the first edition of the assessment, to 13th place in 2025.
In this year's edition, Portugal ranks 13th among the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) and matches the EU average (49%) in this area, presenting a "medium-low risk". In contrast, in 2022, the country registered a rate of 40%.
For the author and researcher at ICNOVA's Observatory for Diversity and Pluralism, Rui Cádima, the main reason for this fall "has to do with the growing trend of worsening economic sustainability in the media sector", he explained to the Lusa news agency.
Rui Cádima noted the existence of "weakened newsrooms, pressured by precariousness, putting editorial freedom at risk and investigative journalism as the first victim", adding "an increasing difficulty in filtering out disinformation and information from multiple intermediaries, despite the emergence of fact-checkers".
Vying for first place in the index, developed by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom to assess the risks to media pluralism, are Germany (28%) and Sweden (28%), followed by Denmark (31%) and the Netherlands (33%), with all four presenting a level of risk considered "very low".
Portugal has a pluralism index of 49%, between France (46%) and Latvia (50%), while the last place is occupied by Hungary, with a "very high" risk level (74%).
In 2022, Portugal was in 7th place out of 32 countries and in 2024, it was in 11th place.
Covering all 27 EU member states, the MPM (Media Pluralism Monitor) index assesses media pluralism based on multiple components.
In the area of “Fundamental Protection”, Portugal maintains its "medium-low" level, with the protection of freedom of expression being the most critical indicator, as it "continues to be tarnished in Portugal by legislation in the Penal Code that punishes defamation with a prison sentence".
"Another worrying aspect has to do with the need to quickly legislate “anti-SLAPP” provisions, namely to protect journalists against abusive legal actions aimed at silencing them," the document warns.
Short for strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPPs have become an all-too-common tool for intimidating and silencing criticism through expensive, baseless legal proceedings.
Market plurality already presents a "medium-high" risk, due to the increasingly difficult economic situation of small and medium-sized companies, the declining revenues of traditional media, and the fact that the profession of journalist is becoming increasingly precarious.
In terms of political independence, the country has a "low risk". In contrast, in terms of social inclusion it has a high risk, given that "local media are increasingly affected by financial pressures and face various challenges to ensureeconomic stability", reads the report.
In this sense, the "situation of greatest risk arises in the area of Social Inclusion, which now presents a high risk. In the area of Market Plurality, there are also persistent problems of market concentration. In the case of Fundamental Protection, the situation has worsened slightly, as Portugal still has critical issues to resolve [...] in the case of Political Independence, this continues to be the most stable area, with a low level of risk."
The results of the report will be presented on Friday at a conference at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FCSH) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
PYR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
