Portugal has taken significant steps to ensure the safety and protection of journalists through legislation that offers a wide scope of guarantees. Journalists benefit from legal rules that range from valuing their personal safety to social and labour protection. In the first case, specifically through penal provisions that especially increase the penalties for physical assault and homicide offences. In the same way they can rely on law enforcement cooperation for protection and advice when covering demonstrations and other security risk events; in the second case, through the granting of equal rights to other workers, both in terms of job protection and state support in the event of unemployment. Similarly, journalists have, subject to a few justified exceptions, the right of access to administrative documents, a guarantee of protection of sources and even special road traffic and parking rights to increase the efficiency of their work.

When addressing the security and business sustainability of regional and local media organisations, there are state subsidies to support journalists’ employment and regional/local media outlets’ technological modernisation. This is done through a specific legal framework that rules the funding of approved projects.

There are problems observed mainly concerning journalist’s working conditions, job insecurity and media business sustainability. This is mostly due to the crisis scenario that the media is experiencing, with reduced revenues and disinvestment aggravated by the decline in audiences and advertising sales namely as a result of changes in information consumption habits. Moreover, the country has registered the last months on a slight increase of incidents regarding aggressions or threats to journalists’ integrity.