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Abstract
This article presents a case study on the limits of the BBC European Service's journalistic independence during World War II. Not only editorial policy but also the personnel hired by the BBC Portuguese Service were subject to pressure from Oliveira Salazar through the Foreign Office. How the Lisbon government was made aware of the events taking place inside the Portuguese Service and which strategies were used to interfere in its editorial line are discussed. This history presents clear evidence of how the BBC was required to trim its output in order to avoid diplomatic problems arising between the British and the Portuguese governments.
Notes
1. Foreign Office (F.O.) internal report, 1944, National Archives, FO 371/39616.
2. F.O. memorandum, October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
3. At the start of the 1930s, before becoming a dissident of the Estado Novo, Armando Cortesão held the post of Agent General of the Colonies, and was appointed Commissioner of the Portuguese Colonial Section at the International, Colonial, Maritime and Flemish Art Exhibition in Antwerp.
4. During the summer of 1938 Jaime and Armando Cortesão were both among those who put “Plan L” into motion. This plan consisted of reassembling all the military personnel exiled in Spain in order to initiate an operation to invade Portugal. This would supposedly take place with the help of the Spanish republican forces. Nevertheless, the advance of Franco in the Spanish civil war along with the USSR's condemnation of the operation frustrated the invasion plan. The preparation of the operation had been carefully monitored by the PVDE, who controlled informers among the exiles (Oliveira, Citation1987, pp. 275–8).
5. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 3 March 1939, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.97 CP.
6. Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.97 CP and M.248 CP.
7. BBC Written Archives, R13/199/2.
8. These rumours are mentioned in several documents, namely telegram from Salazar to Monteiro, 22 October 1941, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.143 CP and letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 16 September 1941 (in Rosas et al., Citation1996, p. 184).
9. Salazar never questioned the Anglo-Portuguese alliance which ensured the British government's discreet support for his dictatorship (Pinto, Citation2005, p. 29).
10. F.O. report, October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/39616.
11. Letter from Roberts (F.O.) to Kirkpatrick (BBC), 29 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
12. Letter from Munro (Ministry of Information) to Markins (F.O.), 12 February 1942, National Archives, FO 371/31113.
13. Telegram from Balfour (British Embassy) to F.O., 15 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
14. Telegram from Balfour (British Embassy) to F.O., 15 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
15. Letter from McCann (Ministry of Information) to Markins (F.O.), 17 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
16. Letter from McCann (Ministry of Information) to Markins (F.O.), 17 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
17. Transcription of the BBC news bulletin to Portugal, 25 October 1941, Oliveira Salazar Archive, AOS/CO/PC-3E.
18. Telegram from Balfour to F.O., 18 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
19. Transcription of the German broadcast to Portugal, 27 October 1941, Oliveira Salazar Archive, AOS/CO/PC-3E.
20. Telegram from Campbell to Ministry of Information, 30 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
21. Telegram from Campbell to Ministry of Information, 30 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
22. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 14 August 1941, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.151 CP.
23. Letter from Cortesão to Monteiro, 16 August 1941, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.151 CP.
24. Letter from Ministry of Information to Under-Secretary of State F.O., 3 November 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
25. Letter from Ministry of Information to Under-Secretary of State F.O., 3 November 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
26. Letter from BBC to Radcliffe (Ministry of Information), 1 November 1941, BBC Written Archives, E2/490.
27. Telegram from Campbell to F.O., 22 November 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
28. Telegram from Cortesão to Casimiro, 18 December 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
29. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 31 December 1941, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.176C CP.
30. Hansard parliamentary debates, House of Commons, 19 December 1941, Vol. 376, 2255W.
31. Letter from Director of the Foreign Publicity Directorate (Ministry of Information) to Monteiro, 10 September 1939, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.97 CP.
32. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 31 October 1941, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.143 CP.
33. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 15 May 1942, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.76C CP.
34. Letter from Monteiro to Salazar, 6 October 1942, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.76C CP.
35. There are several letters in which Armindo Monteiro speaks of Colonel Egerton as a friend of the Portuguese regime (Letters from Monteiro to Salazar, Historic Diplomatic Archive, M.97 CP).
36. The BBC's success is confirmed by several sources, namely internal report of the F.O., 1944, National Archives, FO 371/39616; letter from the Ministry of Information to Cadogan (F.O.), 18 September 1940, National Archives, FO 371/24493; report from Winch, January 1943, National Archives, FO 371/34691; BBC Survey of European Audiences—Portugal, BBC Written Archives, E2 198.
37. Minute of a conversation between Monteiro and Strang, 1 October 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
38. Letter from Campbell to Strang, 12 May 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26818.
39. BBC Survey of European Audiences—Portugal, 30 September 1943, BBC Written Archives, E2/198.
40. Letter from F.O. to Kirkpatrick (BBC), 29 October 1941, BBC Written Archives, E2/490.
41. BBC internal “Guiding Line for Broadcasts to Portugal”, 7 November 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
42. Letter from Kirkpatrick (F.O.) to Markins (BBC), 24 December 1941, National Archives, FO 371/26819.
