Description
Since the introduction of printing facilites in the Mozambique, in 1854, hundreds of titles were published during the colonial period. The first edition of the oldest and most enduring periodical of the colony - the Boletim Official do Governo Geral da Província de Moçambique - started being published in that same year. More than a decade later, in 1868, the first private newspaper was released. It was the O Progresso, soon suppressed by government's censorship in Mozambique.
In Mozambique, there were opinionative newspapers as well as newsy ones; some of them were dedicated to general information, while others were specialized. Some of them criticized the government, while others supported it; some defended the colonial colonial project, while others opposed to it. Political debate and partisanship marked the course of the press in Mozambique, where journalism has always been articulated to the social and political causes of the colony and empire. Despite the censorship and repression of titles that opposed the colonial project and the Portuguese regime's guidelines, there was independent press during both the Monarchy and the Estado Novo. This independent press confronted the status quo of the colonial empire. In fact, in order to get around the problem of censorship, it was common to publish 'unique numbers' which, as Ilídio Rocha explains, did not require legal authorization.
There have been several proposals for the classification of the Mozambican press according to some typology. There was, for instance the workers' press; the Catholic press; and the socialist press. An 'African' press, written by Africans and addressed to Africans, emerged only in 1909, following the creation of the Grémio Africano de Lourenço Marques's (GALM), in 1908. The GALM was founded by João and José Albasini, in March 1909, and it welcomed collaboration by black people, white settlers and everybody who defended Africans's interests.
With the beginning of the dictatorship in 1926 (consolidated in 1933), from the 55 titles published in Mozambique in 1925, only 42 were still circulating in 1927. This was the result of the new Press Law issued by the Portuguese government. Meanwhile, a free and independent press struggled to survive.
After World War II, nationalism emerged in Mozambique through cultural associations, uniting students, intellectuals and trade union organizations. This led to an intense underground activity for the dissemination of political ideas, often through cultural and literary supplements.
Until 1974, titles that sought to combine journalistic independence with criticism of the colonial and authoritarian regime continued to emerge.
