Death of Professor Fernando Correia

Thank you very much, Fernando Correia 

Fernando Correia left us on 1 March. He was a journalism lecturer at Lusófona University for two decades and ran the degree programme in Communication and Journalism there from 2008 to 2012. Before his jubilee, he was honoured with the Lusófona University Gold Medal of Recognition and Merit.

With a degree in Philosophy and a Master's in Communication, Culture and Information Technologies, he was a founding member of the Media and Journalism Research Centre (CIMJ) and the Portuguese Association of Communication Sciences (SOPCOM). The author of a vast body of research and analysis in the field of Journalism Studies, he warned early on of the dangers of media concentration in terms of journalists' autonomy and freedom. 

Ethical issues were one of his main concerns. Elected by the Assembly of the Republic, he was a member of the Press Information Council between 1978 and 1983 and, since 2005, he has been a member of RTP's Opinion Council. A member of the Journalists' Union, he was a member of its board in the last years before the 25 April Revolution and was on the organising committee of the first two journalists' congresses. 

An anti-fascist activist, he was one of the last political prisoners held in Caxias prison. From there, on 27 April, he went directly to the newspaper Diário Popular, where he worked, to tell what his last days had been like in a Portugal without democracy. With professional licence No. 51, he was also a journalist at the Diário de Lisboa and at various publications, including the magazines Seara Nova and Vértice. He was the founder of the first legally published Avante! newspaper, where he was a journalist and deputy editor-in-chief. Fernando Correia was also the editorial director of JJ - Jornalismo e Jornalistas, the magazine of the Journalists' Club, for around two decades.  

But if Fernando Correia's political, journalistic, scientific and pedagogical legacy is inscribed in history, the loss for those who knew him closely is overwhelming. A sublime human being, always available to listen, discreet, calm, smiling and serene. He always accompanied the hundreds of students with whom he worked closely, with great affection and respect, and who, he said, helped him to stay young and up to date with the times. 
 
Universidade Lusófona is grateful for the dedication, excellence and scientific, pedagogical and human commitment that Fernando Correia gave to our institution for so many years.