The day when a new PUBLIC Directorate takes office is the day to reaffirm our pact with the reader. This is a demanding pact, translated into the way in which the team of the best journalists in the country seeks to provide, at every moment, the most complete and rigorous information about the world we inhabit. It is also a pact to affirm our independence from any power, guaranteed by the integrity of our editorial decision-making processes and by total openness to critical surveillance, carried out by each journalist and each reader. And it is also a pact of nonconformity, in a society in which we know we have an important role to play, with journalism that must be renewed every day, in the questions it asks and the way it presents answers.
PÚBLICO’s path is set 33 years ago – to be a modern, independent and critical newspaper, capable of standing alongside the best experiences of world-class journalism. This is how PÚBLICO was born and this is how it continues, convinced that social communication is a fundamental pillar of democracy and that the values enshrined in its Editorial Status remain entirely valid, shared both by the new Management and by the entire Editorial Team.
We refuse sensationalism. We are a plural newspaper that believes in the diversity typical of liberal democracies, where debate is essential. We remain attentive to a changing world, in which respect for human rights and the values of the rule of law and good relationships between people must, at all times, be promoted and defended. We wouldn’t be journalists if we didn’t believe in our ability to transform the world, to change lives, to inspire solutions. It is part of our power and it is part of our responsibility.
For these reasons, the PUBLIC is not neutral. We belong to the public space, we want to encourage fruitful dialogue between the most diverse opinions and points of view, but we are well aware that, at a time when intolerance, racism, xenophobia, extremism and lies continue to find space to thrive, we must be firm in the principles and practice with which we oppose what corrodes communities that we want to be free and fair.
To the same extent, we know that the backbone of our mission is to be vigilant and critical towards anyone holding any form of power, be it government, politics, the economy or any other sphere of society. Only with demands can a country be more capable of treating its own people better; only with principled persistence will we have the strength to help the world overcome the serious threats it faces.
The values that guide us have not changed, but the way we relate to the reader has changed immensely. Today he can find information on paper, but also in our websitein an application, in newslettersus podcastsvia live video or on social media. In everything we put the best of our journalism, based on editorial processes that consume time and resources, but without which it is not possible to have the quality that puts us in the unique place that PÚBLICO occupies.
Thanks to the work of a team of magnificent and committed journalists, spread across two strong newsrooms in Lisbon and Porto, we produce information and knowledge, debates and analysis, opinion and reports in increasingly more formats, seeking to fully serve the reader. It is by harvesting the best tools from change that the newspaper continues to be vital in the grand plan of national and international current affairs and to have a unique relevance for areas such as culture, the environment, science or literacy for the average. We know that new revolutions are approaching in our area of activity and today we are much better prepared than we have ever been.
At the same time, for us to continue to be this newspaper, PÚBLICO is much more than its editorial team. It is a company in which its various departments give their best with ingenuity and imagination. It is an attentive and permanent relationship with our partners and advertisers. And it is also, certainly, the result of the support and dedication of its shareholder, in the spirit enshrined in the newspaper’s founding pact.
A special word for our subscribers. It is to them, above all, that we owe the most. And they are the ones who best reflect the spirit of our pact with the reader, by contributing significantly so that the press can continue to be the guarantee of a plural and well-informed society.
They will be the first to benefit from this renewed effort that is now beginning, in a newspaper that wants to be above the noise in which the sense of public interest is lost and that wants to continue to have an impact on the lives of its readers. This is the best way to measure the success of our work: being able to continue to give them a broad view of the world that helps them make decisions, build their opinions and reinforce their participation in the community as citizens. This newspaper will continue, freely and tirelessly, to question the world around us. This is our pact with the reader.
