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Having been advised that my name was referred today in the audiences which are taking place in the Parliamentary committee on Ethics, Society and Culture, with reference to a letter that I addressed on 8 January 2009 to the Director of Information of the SIC TV Channel, disavowing declarations made by a journalist, I have now decided to publish this so that it becomes public knowledge.

José Manuel Nunes Liberato

Following is the text of the letter sent to the Director of Information of the SIC TV Channel:

Dear Sir,

cc SIC Director-General

Lisbon, 08 January 2009

1 – In the issue dated 7 January of the SIC TV programme «Us over Here», journalist Mário Crespo made statements concerning the relationship of the Presidency of the Republic with the media referring to this as «a practice which is somewhat chronic, somewhat worrying».

2 – Asked by journalist Conceição Lino to specify the meaning of such a practice, he answered that the same consisted in the deliberate transmission of untrue news items to media bodies, which he qualified as «weapons to replace the official rendering of a communication from an institution of the Republic by a message issued subliminally through the media».

3 – He further stated that this practice threatens the freedom of the press, and that the media are being the victims of a «systematic harassment of sources, which stamp the agenda with messages which they probably do not wish to assume as being individually provided».

4 – Such statements do not correspond to the issue of an opinion, or a subjective critical appreciation or a judgement of value. These are statements concerning a practice allegedly adopted by the Presidency of the Republic in its relations with the media.

5 – Insofar as such a practice is attributed to an institution such as the Presidency of the Republic, it is my duty to state that the facts referred by journalist Mário Crespo are totally false and do not minimally correspond to reality.

6 – The issue of judgements of value, opinions or insinuations by professional members of the media do not deserve, from the Presidency of the Republic, any comment. In the case in question, however, we are facing statements of a factual nature which are totally untrue, since the Presidency of the Republic has never used the methods with which it is being accused of by journalist Mário Crespo, and such statements must be considered as extremely grievous and injurious to the status of an institution of the Republic, as well as to the honour of all those who exercise their activities therein.

7 – It is due to the gravity and falseness of such statements that I request your good offices in publicizing this letter, not wishing to invoke the legal terms of the right to an answer.

Yours faithfully

THE HEAD OF THE CIVIL CABINET
José Manuel Nunes Liberato