Transition to democracy and state television: Comparative analysis for Portugal and Spain

Media, and particularly state television, became a key element in the strategy for change during transition in the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-1970s. Television became a means for the new government to talk directly with society, to influence public opinion and to get citizens’ support. Within this context of political transition, this article aims to show a comparative view of the role played by state television in Portugal (RTP) and Spain (TVE) in order to draw similarities and differences between transition models from both a political point of view and the standpoint of television media. The sources used for this study are TVE and RTP programmes from the archives of the respective television headquarters, in-depth and face-to-face interviews with journalists who lived through the transition in the Iberian Peninsula, and an updated bibliography.