On November 16, the launch of the self-styled “Consortium – Network of Investigative Journalists” was announced at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Nova FCSH) in Lisbon. Like so many other similar “independent journalism” organizations, the “first Portuguese consortium of investigative journalism” is a non-profit and, of course, non-governmental association, although the creation of the “Consortium” has been conveniently publicized on the website of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.
The first journalistic investigation of the “Consortium” dealt with a highly topical issue: the presence of hate speech in the Portuguese State Security Forces and, of course, the relationship between this hate speech and the CHEGA party, a new right, conservative party that has quickly become the third-largest political force in the country. An investigation that was immediately denied and rejected by its president, André Ventura, as reported in CHEGA’s newspaper, Folha Nacional.
But who are the members of the “Consortium”? According to a report published in Meios & Publicidade, among the champions of independent journalism are Pedro Coelho (journalist of the television channel SIC, Independent Society of Communication), Paulo Pena (journalist of Investigate Europe), Filipe Teles and Ricardo Cabral Fernandes of ‘Setenta e Quatro’, independent journalists Cláudia Marques Santos and Tiago Carrasco, Pedro Miguel Santos and Ricardo Esteves Ribeiro (Fumaça journalists), Ricardo Correia Afonso and many Nova FSCH university professors.
The members of this team, led by SIC journalist Pedro Coelho, have, of course, a long history of political activism linked to the left and far left and, of course, have received significant donations from George Soros, the “philanthropist” who donates millions of dollars to promote the Open Society ideals championed by the left: abortion, LGBT, open borders, etc. Take the example of Paulo Pena, one of the members of this team, who himself is part of an international consortium of journalists, Investigate Europe, which received 124,000 euros from the Open Society Initiative in Barcelona in 2020 and 153,000 euros in 2019.
On the other hand, journalists Filipe Teles and Ricardo Cabral Fernandes work for the digital newspaper “Setenta e Quatro”, which presents itself as a “digital information project that acts to guarantee democratic and progressive values”, and which received funding from Ana Gomes.
The Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of the Republic financed “Setenta e Quatro” with the money donated to her presidential campaign, as reported on the newspaper’s website: “Having closed the campaign accounts of the candidacy for the 2021 presidential elections, Ana Gomes decided to donate the remaining amount of the sum of donations, 31,000 euros, to the association ‘Continue to Begin’, as a way of supporting the investigative journalism project ‘Setenta e Quatro’, launched on July 13”.
The newspaper Fumaça, which includes journalists Pedro Miguel Santos and Ricardo Esteves Ribeiro, who also participate in the “Consortium”, has received a hefty €509,000 in journalism support grants from the Open Society Foundations since 2018.
George Soros and the Open Society are key players in the financing of the various media outlets that make up the “Consortium”, along with organizations linked to the extreme left and the Portuguese state. As for the behavior of the “independent” journalists of the “Consortium” on social networks, there is no doubt about their political position either.
Take the examples of journalists Pedro Coelho of SIC and Ricardo Cabral Fernandes of Setenta e Quatro. Nova FSCH professor Pedro Coelho, who led this “investigation” into hate speech in the Portuguese security forces, does not mince his words when it comes to expressing his political opinion, stating several times that he is against the CHEGA party, which he describes as “extreme right-wing”.
As can be read in these two tweets published before the last legislative elections. 22 January 2002: “As a journalist, there is not much I can write publicly in the week before the legislative elections. Only this: in November 2020 and April 2021 SIC broadcast 5 major reports on the far right in Europe, including Portugal. Far right. That’s ‘all’ it is”.
25 January 2022: “I don’t care if they know what I am politically. I want them to know what I am not. I’m not far-right and I’m afraid that many have not yet realized that the far-right may wake up on Monday to be able to influence a government in Portugal”. For his part, Ricardo Cabral Fernandes, a journalist for “Setenta e Quatro”, tweeted on 30 January commenting on the results of the legislative elections: “We suspected it was a matter of time, and today it has happened: the extreme right has consolidated its position in Parliament. The normalization of hatred will accelerate. Let us prepare to face it”.
As in so many other cases, the so-called “Consortium – Network of Investigative Journalists” has nothing to do with “independent journalism” but is rather a collection of far-left political activists whose journalism serves the interests of the globalist organizations, such as Soros’ Open Society, that generously fund them. Impartiality and even-handedness, characteristics that should preside over the activity they claim to engage in, are not part of the Open Society values.
Álvaro Peñas es redactor de deliberatio.eu, colaborador de Disidentia, The European Conservative, El American y otros medios europeos. Analista internacional, especializado en Europa del Este, para el canal de televisión 7NN. Autor en SND editores // Writer at deliberatio.eu, contributor at Disidentia, The European Conservative, El American and other European media. International analyst, specialized in Eastern Europe, for the television channel 7NN. Author at SND editores.