By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Oct 23 2002 (IPS)

Portuguese-speaking countries and territories in Africa and Asia tend to accept the "invasion" of Portuguese television broadcasts in the homes of thousands of their citizens, largely because the programming includes what viewers see as Brazil’s irresistible shows.

In spite of its limited economic size, Portugal has worked to extend broadcasts of Radio Televisao Portuguesa (RTP) to Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tomé and Principe, to East Timor and to the "ethnic remnants" of Portuguese communities such as Goa, Diu and Damao (India), Malaca (Malaysia) and Macao (China).

The loss of TV-viewers, who are switching to private channels, the costs of maintaining satellite signals to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and those of RTP-Africa – which have African correspondents in Bissau, Luanda, Maputo, Praia and Sao Tome – have resulted in an RTP deficit of one billion dollars over the last decade.

This year, losses will reach an estimated 100 million dollars. The national and international public television channels cost the Portuguese state 274,000 dollars a day.

The defenders of this broadcast service believe Portugal is morally obligated to shoulder the expense in order to boost the education level of the Portuguese-speaking diaspora and to promote a horizontal exchange of information among the countries that it colonised in the past.

But critics of this "exchange" say the programming RTP offers is "authentic televised garbage" that does nothing to help those countries.

Through the international broadcasts, Brazil penetrates the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa with its soap operas and serial dramas, which are a substantial part of the RTP programming, and are also very popular in "mother country" Portugal.

It might seem far-fetched that a meeting of government ministers or any other high-level gathering would be rescheduled because it coincides with the final episodes of a Brazilian TV series, but this has indeed occurred in Portugal, Africa and East Timor.

Portuguese football and Brazilian soap operas pervade the main TV viewing hours in Portuguese-speaking nations, and experts point out that these shows have caused changes in the cultural behaviour of their populations.

Over the last three decades, knowledge of Brazil in other countries has not been based on its political or economic influence, but on its TV series, such as "Gabriela", "Pantanal" and "Xica da Silva".

Brazil’s cultural weight has grown so much that even local expressions have changed in other countries, as TV viewers borrow the terms that are more common in the South American giant’s own brand of Portuguese.

"Olá", which means "hello" in standard Portuguese, in many cases has been replaced by the Brazilian "oí", and "adeus" (good- bye) has transformed into Rio de Janeiro’s emblematic "tchau".

The names of the most popular characters in the Brazilian TV series also make an impact, evident in the fact that Dercio, Carina, Edilson, Jaunice or Tatiana began to appear more and more often on birth certificates throughout the Portuguese-speaking world.

Brazil – through television – has opened the door to a "painless" invasion, reversing the roles of nearly four centuries of Portugal’s domination, with the help of RTP.

But the quality of RTP programming faces harsh criticisms from various circles.

According to Mario Mesquita, communications expert and journalism professor, the current television format is "so mediocre that even the never-ending news programmes, more than an hour long, have adopted the lines of soap operas, game-shows and contests."

In Mesquita’s opinion, the RTP argument of adopting "the strategies necessary to compete" means that its news shows play with the emotions of poor and uneducated people, "casting aside informative journalism and dissemination of the facts."

All of this is justified by the claim that "now the people have their own voice on television," the expert added.

Noted media analyst Augusto Manuel de Seabra says that on TV, "everything is for sale. Human values are displayed and sold, they are media merchandise. It is the triumphant affirmation of the audience as market and the negation of television’s ethical contract with society."

These and other critics of existing television programming wonder if this is an appropriate role for a former colonial power to play in relation to its colonies, with whom language and cultural ties remain strong.

On another front, the use of the language disseminated by television among 220 million Portuguese-speaking people has emerged as a source of discord between Brazilians and the Portuguese.

Portuguese purists loudly condemn the informality of the Brazilians when it comes to language. However, counter to all predictions, the strongest defence of the South Americans is wielded by the conservative Faculty of Letters at the University of Lisbon.

According to professor María Helena Mateus, "our intolerant mode of speaking has experienced very few updates or revivals of archaic Portuguese."

The Brazilians, however, "extend the vowels, appreciating the body of each word, while as far as phonetics they maintain the pureness of the language," she said.

"The introduction of new Brazilian words and expressions is not harmful, but rather part of a natural idiomatic evolution," commented Mateus.

The popularity of Brazilian soap operas in Portuguese-speaking countries is due in great part to these TV dramas themselves, in which "the poor are treated as decent, hard-working and long- suffering, while the rich are swine and politicians are corrupt," noted psychologist María do Rosario Días.

Throughout the largely impoverished Portuguese-speaking world, "the most lowly console themselves in seeing a TV drama in which the wealthy are always surrounded by problems and betrayals. They gleefully think, ‘I’m poor, but at least my wife doesn’t cheat on me’," said the psychologist.

Excerpt:

By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Oct 23 2002 (IPS)

Portuguese-speaking countries and territories in Africa and Asia tend to accept the “invasion” of Portuguese television broadcasts in the homes of thousands of their citizens, largely because the programming includes what viewers see as Brazil’s irresistible shows.

In spite of its limited economic size, Portugal has worked to extend broadcasts of Radio Televisao Portuguesa (RTP) to Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tomé and Principe, to East Timor and to the “ethnic remnants” of Portuguese communities such as Goa, Diu and Damao (India), Malaca (Malaysia) and Macao (China).

The loss of TV-viewers, who are switching to private channels, the costs of maintaining satellite signals to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and those of RTP-Africa — which have African correspondents in Bissau, Luanda, Maputo, Praia and Sao Tome — have resulted in an RTP deficit of one billion dollars over the last decade.

This year, losses will reach an estimated 100 million dollars. The national and international public television channels cost the Portuguese state 274,000 dollars a day.

The defenders of this broadcast service believe Portugal is morally obligated to shoulder the expense in order to boost the education level of the Portuguese-speaking diaspora and to promote a horizontal exchange of information among the countries that it colonised in the past.

But critics of this “exchange” say the programming RTP offers is “authentic televised garbage” that does nothing to help those countries.

Through the international broadcasts, Brazil penetrates the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa with its soap operas and serial dramas, which are a substantial part of the RTP programming, and are also very popular in “mother country” Portugal.

It might seem far-fetched that a meeting of government ministers or any other high-level gathering would be rescheduled because it coincides with the final episodes of a Brazilian TV series, but this has indeed occurred in Portugal, Africa and East Timor.

Portuguese football and Brazilian soap operas pervade the main TV viewing hours in Portuguese-speaking nations, and experts point out that these shows have caused changes in the cultural behaviour of their populations.

Over the last three decades, knowledge of Brazil in other countries has not been based on its political or economic influence, but on its TV series, such as “Gabriela”, “Pantanal” and “Xica da Silva”.

Brazil’s cultural weight has grown so much that even local expressions have changed in other countries, as TV viewers borrow the terms that are more common in the South American giant’s own brand of Portuguese.

“Olá”, which means “hello” in standard Portuguese, in many cases has been replaced by the Brazilian “oí”, and “adeus” (good- bye) has transformed into Rio de Janeiro’s emblematic “tchau”.

The names of the most popular characters in the Brazilian TV series also make an impact, evident in the fact that Dercio, Carina, Edilson, Jaunice or Tatiana began to appear more and more often on birth certificates throughout the Portuguese-speaking world.

Brazil — through television — has opened the door to a “painless” invasion, reversing the roles of nearly four centuries of Portugal’s domination, with the help of RTP.

But the quality of RTP programming faces harsh criticisms from various circles.

According to Mario Mesquita, communications expert and journalism professor, the current television format is “so mediocre that even the never-ending news programmes, more than an hour long, have adopted the lines of soap operas, game-shows and contests.”

In Mesquita’s opinion, the RTP argument of adopting “the strategies necessary to compete” means that its news shows play with the emotions of poor and uneducated people, “casting aside informative journalism and dissemination of the facts.”

All of this is justified by the claim that “now the people have their own voice on television,” the expert added.

Noted media analyst Augusto Manuel de Seabra says that on TV, “everything is for sale. Human values are displayed and sold, they are media merchandise. It is the triumphant affirmation of the audience as market and the negation of television’s ethical contract with society.”

These and other critics of existing television programming wonder if this is an appropriate role for a former colonial power to play in relation to its colonies, with whom language and cultural ties remain strong.

On another front, the use of the language disseminated by television among 220 million Portuguese-speaking people has emerged as a source of discord between Brazilians and the Portuguese.

Portuguese purists loudly condemn the informality of the Brazilians when it comes to language. However, counter to all predictions, the strongest defence of the South Americans is wielded by the conservative Faculty of Letters at the University of Lisbon.

According to professor María Helena Mateus, “our intolerant mode of speaking has experienced very few updates or revivals of archaic Portuguese.”

The Brazilians, however, “extend the vowels, appreciating the body of each word, while as far as phonetics they maintain the pureness of the language,” she said.

“The introduction of new Brazilian words and expressions is not harmful, but rather part of a natural idiomatic evolution,” commented Mateus.

The popularity of Brazilian soap operas in Portuguese-speaking countries is due in great part to these TV dramas themselves, in which “the poor are treated as decent, hard-working and long- suffering, while the rich are swine and politicians are corrupt,” noted psychologist María do Rosario Días.

Throughout the largely impoverished Portuguese-speaking world, “the most lowly console themselves in seeing a TV drama in which the wealthy are always surrounded by problems and betrayals. They gleefully think, ‘I’m poor, but at least my wife doesn’t cheat on me’,” said the psychologist.

Excerpt: