From commentary to politics and vice versa: today only Montenegro, Raimundo and Sousa Real escape – News – SAPO.pt

While António Costa went from political leader and prime minister to commentator, having been announced this week as the new face of Correio da Manhã, with a weekly page in the newspaper, starting in May, and a program on the group’s new information station Medialivre, the commentator (now from SIC, ex-CNN and DN) Sebastião Bugalho was announced as head of the AD list for the next Europeans on June 9th.

Of the many criticisms of the latter’s transfer, it is impossible not to highlight those of Mariana Mortágua: “There are commentators today who very easily become politicians (…) I am a political leader, I do not intend to become a commentator”, stated the former commentator (JN, SIC) and current leader of Bloco de Esquerda, before praising the choice of former bloc leader and current weekly commentator for SIC, Catarina Martins (who confronts the vision with Cecília Meireles, on Linhas Vermelhas, as Miguel Morgado faces Miguel Prata Roque).

The truth is that the waters of party protagonism, even in executive roles, have long been mixed with those of the space of media opinion in its different media — just remember António Costa, who came to our house every week via Quadratura do Círculo (SIC ), at the same time that he led the destinies of the largest municipality in the country (2008-2014), leaving the program only when he became general secretary of the PS. He would then leave the Lisbon chamber to Fernando Medina, who would also take on a weekly television commentary space on TVI until he became Minister of Finance.

Pedro Nuno Santos himself, after resigning from the government following a series of cases – from the flash announcement of the new Lisbon airport, promptly revoked by the leader of the Executive, to the compensation of half a million euros for the TAP administrator drawn to the socialist government –, premiered in prime time every Monday on SIC Notícias, in a space for “analysis and opinion on current political affairs” that aired the day after the podcast. However, it would not last more than six episodes, since, contrary to what he had sworn in the first, he actually ended up running for general secretary of the PS and emerged victorious, putting an end to regular collaboration in mid-November.

In a non-exhaustive analysis, however, it must be seen that the space for comment reserved for political leaders is not exclusive to the left. To consider only the current party leaders with parliamentary seats, André Ventura naturally stands out, even though the president of Chega was famous as a sports commentator representing Benfica. From 2014 to 2020, Ventura was a regular presence in the studios of the then Cofina (now Media Livre), having left CMTV eight months after his election as Chega’s sole deputy (which reached 50 deputies in last month’s legislative elections).

Even when the media are not global in scope, space is valued — Nuno Melo, centrist leader, for example, as an MEP maintained a weekly collaboration with Rádio Campanário. And even if the standard is not the same, the value of social networks can also fulfill this role: the current leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, became a leading figure after his Twitter page became famous for political criticism which he gave life to with a great sense of humor.

The truth is that, from left to right, almost all current party leaders have had regular political commentary. Not even Rui Tavares, who leads Livre, fails: he was an opinionator for years in Public and commentatorThe other sidefrom RTP3, alongside Pedro Adão e Silva (former Minister of Culture) and José Eduardo Martins.

There are only three exceptions among the current party leaders with seats in the Assembly of the Republic: Luís Montenegro (PSD), Paulo Raimundo (PCP) and Inês Sousa Real (PAN) are not among the regulars of political commentary — in which no one scored as many points as the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who joined the Sunday dinners first on TVI (2000-2004), then on RTP (2005-2010) and again on TVI until running for Presidential elections (2010- 2015).