How does the free newspaper subscription program work?
The diploma that approves the program offering digital subscriptions to periodical publications to young people between 15 and 18 years old was published on March 26th.
The program consists of offering a digital subscription, valid for two years, of a newspaper or magazine “of general information or specialized information on economic matters”.
All young people between the 15 and 18 years old, inclusive, living in national territory can benefit from this program.
The deadline to activate the subscription is December 31, 2025, and the offer is limited to one subscription per person.
The value of the support is 20 euros, which is paid in full by the Portuguese State.
What to do if you want to benefit from this support?
Once the program is available on the gov.pt portal, youngsters can access this service by logging in using their Chave Móvel Digital or ID card.
After authentication, users need to confirm their email and choose, among the available publications, the one they wish to subscribe.
The media organization that owns the publication receives the subscription request and provides the activation codes and instructions within 72 hours via email.
The user has 30 days to activate the subscription. At the end of this period, the activation code expires, but a new subscription request can be made – no later than December 31, 2025.
How does the program work for media organizations?
Organizations that own publications and are interested in joining the Program must apply to #PortugalMediaLab, within a deadline to be set by a diploma approved “by the members of the Government responsible for the media and youth and modernization”, reads the document.
The Government “shall pay the invoices submitted by the organizations within 30 days and after their validation by #PortugalMediaLab,” the decree clarifies.
Periodical publications that are free, of general information with a frequency greater than weekly, and that are not duly registered in the Portuguese media regulator (ERC – Entidade Reguladora da Comunicação Social) are excluded from the Program.
Also excluded are publications owned or edited by political parties, political associations or trade union, religious, employers’ or professional associations, or by central, regional or local governmental bodies.
This is one of the measures of the Media Action Plan, presented by the Government in October 2024.
The Program to offer digital subscriptions was approved by the Council of Ministers on March 10 and aims to “promote media literacy and combat disinformation among young people”.
The Program must be assessed by the end of the first semester of 2026, “for the purposes of possible renewal”, reads the diploma.
