Censorship in Portugal - First Republic

First Republic

With the proclamation of the Republic, a new press law was quickly passed on October 28, 1910, which, according to its thirteen articles, aimed at reinstating freedom of expression. Critiques of the government or of any political or religious doctrine would no longer be impeded. However, faced with difficulties implementing the new regime, the republican government also imposed, on July 9, 1912, a set of measures and situations that warranted the confiscation of printed materials by the judicial authorities. Thus were forbidden publications of pornographic content or those that would outrage the republican institutions or jeopardize the security of the State.

Censorship was reinstated on March 12, 1916, after the declaration of war by Germany. Seizures were ordered of all documents whose publication might hinder national security or could be perceived as anti-war propaganda. Prior censorship, now a task of the Department of War, was always seen as a temporary exception, being unconstitutional. The military coup by Sidónio Pais would be in part justified with the unpopularity of prior censorship, which was now very obvious in the newspapers, as the space occupied by the censored text was intentionally left blank, so as to indicate to readers that the text had been censored. Sidónio Pais would, however, resort to prior censorship, adding it to all other repressive actions by his government until the end of the War.