Alinhamentos políticos e discursos editoriais: a imprensa portuguesa, a Península Ibérica e a crise das fronteiras europeias no prelúdio da Segunda Guerra Mundial

This article examines the discursive formation of the Portuguese press in the context of the collapse of European borders in 1938, representing the Iberian Peninsula as a symbolic and geopolitical space. Considering a large corpus of national newspapers, we have pointed out the editorial divergences connected to its political alignment which demonstrates how press discourses adjusted to the ideological stimuli of the Estado Novo. Using an analysis of the reporting mechanisms on the Austrian annexation and the Sudeten crisis we demonstrated the narrative constructs and ideological instrumentalization of these events in creating a national unity founded on values of order, tradition and authority. In this process, the press did not only recount facts and remain neutral but became a potential vehicle of cultural and political mediation, demonstrating and reinforcing the discursive strategies of the Estado Novo in the European context leading to a continent on the brink of war.