The interior minister admitted on Monday that he had expressed his displeasure with the RTP cartoon about police and racism and assured that the Portuguese security forces guarantee compliance with the principle of equality.
“On Friday I had the opportunity to speak with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of RTP to express my displeasure that such a cartoon was shown at a festival with so many thousands of young people,” said José Luís Carneiro.
The interior minister spoke on the sidelines of the presentation ceremony of the prevention and safety plan for Matosinhos beach. Asked by journalists, he regretted showing a ‘cartoon’ during the coverage of music festival NOS Alive on RTP, which alluded to the police and racism.
The Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, defended that comedians and cartoonists should have autonomy, noting that the animation referring to the police and racism broadcast on the public channel refers to “French reality”.
“It’s a cartoon and I think we should take seriously this autonomy of what humor is and humor about current national and international politics,” said Pedro Adão e Silva. He argued that “humour and ‘cartoon’ should be a space that should enjoy particular autonomy and editorial non-interference”.
The cartoon, by Cristina Sampaio, contributor to the Spam Cartoon collective, shown weekly on RTP, is called “Shooting career” and shows a police officer shooting at the target with increasing intensity. At the end it shows the targets, which got darker as the policeman was aggressive, which serves as a metaphor for the theme of racism in the security forces.
Recognizing the respect for freedom of expression, the Interior Minister stressed the need to draw the attention of RTP’s management to “the sense of responsibility so that freedom of expression does not jeopardize the image and prestige of the institutions” .
José Luís Carneiro also said he understands the explanation of the illustrator André Carrilho, co-founder, together with João Paulo Cotrim, of Spam Cartoon – responsible for the ‘cartoon’ in question – who said that the animation alludes to the French reality .
In defense of the Portuguese security forces, the Interior Minister assured that “they respect and enforce democratic legality and constitutional values”, the principle of equality from the start. “This is a value that characterizes our country and the performance of the security forces,” he stressed.
On RTP, the channel’s official source told Lusa that “Spam Cartoon is a free opinion exercise on national and international current affairs that RTP has been organizing since 2017”, written by “some of the most recognized Portuguese cartoonists”.
“It has in no way served to incite violence against anyone. The values of freedom of expression and expression are fundamental to RTP’s democracy and public service,” the television channel stressed.
Criticizing the ‘cartoon’, the PSD has already questioned the board of directors of RTP, the CDS-PP criticized the Interior Minister for not defending the honor of the police services and Chega postponed the hearing Parliament of Public Broadcasting and of the Media Regulatory Entity (ERC).
Source: DN
