MÁRIO MESQUITA
(1950 – 2022)
“Doing the math, I was a teacher for more years than I was a journalist. But when people refer to me, they say ‘journalist Mário Mesquita’. I assume that 'the journalist Mário Mesquita' will also appear in my obituary.”(1)
José Rebelo, Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, Maria Emília Brederode Santos, Manuel Anta, António José Teixeira and Isabel Babo give their testimony about Mário Mesquita.
Mário António da Mota Mesquita was born on January 3, 1950 in Ponta Delgada, Azores, where, in 1967, he completed the Complementary High School Course. He graduated in Social Communication from the Catholic University of Leuven, Brussels, in 1989. He was a journalist, politician, researcher and professor.
RESISTANT, JOURNALIST AND POLITICIAN
Mário Mesquita's journalistic career began in 1971, at the newspaper República, where he remained until 1975, the year in which he experienced one of the most important moments in the history of Portuguese media after the 25th of April, the so-called “Caso República”. Years later, as a researcher, he dedicated several works to the subject, seeking to prove that, as sociologist and university professor Isabel Babo recalls, it was really an event that was simultaneously a journalistic issue and an “analytical object”.
Inserted in the context of the so-called “Hot Summer of 75”, dominated by a set of actions aimed at controlling the media by political forces, the occupation, by members of the workers committee, of the newspaper República (May 19, 1975), an afternoon daily that, with a marked socialist tendency, was referenced for its decades-long struggle in opposition to the Estado Novo. It was one of the newspapers that, following the 25th of April, remained outside the influence of the Communist Party.
Publicly protesting the political orientation followed by the management, in May 1975, workers (typists, administrative staff, printers and some journalists) occupied the newsroom, demanding their active participation in decision-making regarding the newspaper's editorial line. Reacting immediately, the Socialist Party, led by Mário Soares, accuses the PCP of wanting to control the media.
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Jornal do Caso República. July 6, 1975 © Hemeroteca Digital
With this issue, which caused enormous division in public opinion, the Portuguese media experienced one of the biggest crises in its history, with international repercussions, especially in relation to the issue of freedom of the press and the relationship between journalism and political power. According to Mário Mesquita, this case and that of Rádio Renascença constituted, in fact, the incidents with the most serious consequences in the course of political events in 1975” (2).
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Diário de Notícias. February 17, 1986. ©Arquivo do Diário de Notícias
Mário Mesquita left República and joined Diário de Notícias in 1976, occupying the positions of deputy director until 1978 and director until 1986. This is, according to the opinion of former media professional and university professor José Rebelo, a “very important phase of his career as a journalist”. He then signs “corrosive editorials, which are eagerly and fearfully awaited by all types of political personalities, from right to left”.
An opponent of the Estado Novo, he always considered that the media should be at the service of Democracy and “democratic citizenship”, translated, according to Maria Emília Brederode dos Santos, into “competent, honest and demanding journalism, that is, informed, free and responsible”.
According to the opinion of the journalist and his former student António José Teixeira, Mário Mesquita should be remembered as a true defender of the independence of journalism, a value he always practiced, even when he held political positions, and which he always sought to transmit to new generations, particularly as a professor.
After several years at Diário de Notícias and after a period as director of Diário de Lisboa (1989-1990), Mário Mesquita continued to be involved in journalism, as a columnist for different newspapers, such as Público (1991-1992 and 1998-2007), Diário de Notícias (1992-1996) and Jornal de Notícias (2010-2011).
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In Diário de Lisboa, with Ruella Ramos (newspaper administrator) and Diana Andringa (deputy director). ©Agência Lusa
He also left a strong mark as a political actor, an activity that began in his youth, as an opponent of Salazarism and developed throughout his life, in different forms. He supported the Ponta Delgada CDE in the 1969 and 1973 elections, and was a member and leader of the Portuguese Socialist Action between 1969 and 1973, the year in which he was part of the group that, in Bad Munstereifel, in the German Federal Republic, founded the Socialist Party. After the 1974 Revolution, he was a deputy to the Constituent Assembly (1975-1976) and, later, to the Assembly of the Republic (1976-1978).
In 1978, he resigned as deputy, and from then on abandoned his party activity in favor of his roles as journalist and investigator.
He was, however, a member of the political committees for the presidential campaigns of Salgado Zenha (1985) and Mário Soares (2005-06), and of the honor committees for the campaigns of Ramalho Eanes (1980) and Jorge Sampaio (1996). He was also a member of the Executive Board of the Luso-American Development Foundation for six years (2007-2013), with responsibility for the Azores program and the areas of Humanities and Arts.
THE PROFESSOR WHO WAS CALLED ‘JOURNALIST’
He was one of the founders of the degree in Journalism at the University of Coimbra, as a guest associate professor and coordinating secretary of the Institute of Journalism Studies at the Faculty of Letters (1995-1998). He was also a guest assistant professor at the New University of Lisbon, Department of Social Communication (1986-1995; 1998-2001), member of the General Council of the Open University and the University of the Azores; member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Communication and Languages (New University of Lisbon) and of the Scientific Committee of the journal Recherches en Communication (Catholic University of Leuven).
As a university professor, he supervised numerous academic works and participated as a jury member in master's and doctoral exams at different universities (New University of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, University of Beira Interior, University of the Azores, and University of Coimbra).
He coordinated the “Convent Conferences” (1996, 1997, 1998) within the scope of the “summer courses” on Social Communication of General Studies in Arrábida.
Deeply interested in issues relating to Social Communication, he was also, recalls António José Teixeira, a professor who, in addition to a countless number of published works (some of them published in books), edited and directed collections of essays and studies on journalism. In this case and as, by the way, that journalist adds, we are faced with a work “with many titles and with many approaches, a work of its own with reflections and essays” that are “a reference for those who study journalism” and not only in Portugal. In other words, argues his fellow countryman and writer Onésimo de Almeida, Mário Mesquita became “a great theoretician of social communication in Portugal, respected by his colleagues”.
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Honoris Causa - Mário Mesquita
On November 25, 2021, the Lusófona University of Oporto awarded him the title of “doctor honoris causa”, thus seeking to highlight Mário Mesquita's enormous contribution to the study of Social Communication in general and Journalism, in particular.
RECOGNITION OF A CAREER
Mário Mesquita won several journalism awards, namely the “Reportagem”, from the Portuguese Press Club (1986), the “Artur Portela”, from the Casa de Imprensa (1987), the “Gazeta de Mérito”, from the Journalists Club (1998 ) and “Manuel Pinto de Azevedo Jr., in the investigation secction”, from O Primeiro de Janeiro (1999).
In 1981, the President of the Republic Ramalho Eanes distinguished him with the “Commendation of the Order of Infante D. Henrique”, and years later (2016), he was declared “Honorary Deputy” by the Assembly of the Republic. He was also distinguished with the “Medal of Recognition” by the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (2011) and with the “Diploma of Municipal Recognition” for the relevance of his career as a journalist, writer and politician by the Municipal Council of Ponta Delgada ( 2015).
France and Belgium distinguished his work and action with the Ordre nationale du Mérite (1979) and the Ordre Léopold II(1982), respectively.
In 2017, he assumed the position of Vice-President of the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication. He was in office when he died, on May 27, 2022.
On May 31, 2022, he was awarded, posthumously, by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with the Order of Freedom (grand officer rank).
References:
(2) BABO, I. (2022) - Mário Mesquita e o caso República. Em linha: https://www.e-cultura.pt/ieei/artigos/mario-mesquita-e-o-caso-republica/