The journalist João Paulo Guerra, 82 years old, died this Sunday in Lisbon due to illness, a source close to the also broadcaster and writer told the Lusa agency. João Paulo Guerra died at the Curry Cabral hospital and had been ill for some time, said the source, recalling the last role that the journalist held – provider of the public listening service for Radio.
Known as João Paulo Guerra, he began his career in radio but was also a journalist in print, worked for television, and wrote about a dozen books.
According to biographies published by his publishing houses, the journalist started professionally at Rádio Renascença, then moved to the news service of the former Rádio Clube Português, where he left his name associated with information programs and magazines that stood out at the turn of the 1960s into the next decade, such as PBX and Tempo Zip.
João Paulo Guerra Baptista Coelho Vieira was born in Lisbon in April 1942, starting his journalism career at the age of 20, a profession he interrupted when he served in the military in Mozambique. His mother was a founder of the magazine “Crónica Feminina”.
He was an editor and reporter at the former Emissora Nacional (1974) and head of the Studies and Planning Office of the Programming Directorate of this station, at the origin of Rádio Difusão Portuguesa (1974-75).
As a correspondent in Lisbon for Rádio Nacional de Angola (1976-1977), he was part of the founding team of Telefonia de Lisboa (1985-1987), was editor and reporter for TSF – Rádio Jornal (1990-96) and Central FM (1996).
At Antena 1, he was responsible for the program “Os Reis da Rádio” (2005-2006) and, for over ten years, starting in 2006, for the “Revista de Imprensa”.
In newspapers, among other titles, he worked for Mosca, the weekend supplement of Diário de Lisboa, then directed by the writer Luís Sttau Monteiro, being part of his team.
He also worked for the afternoon paper A Capital and the supplement Cena 7, the República and the Musicalíssimo. He was also the editor of Notícias da Amadora (1972-74), was in the newsroom of O Diário (1979-79), which he headed from 1989 to 1990, as well as being a permanent collaborator of the newspapers O Jogo, Público, and the weekly O Jornal.
He was also editor and chief writer for Diário Económico.
He wrote several books, especially on journalistic research, such as “Memórias das Guerras Coloniais”, “Savimbi Vida e Morte”, and “Descolonização portuguesa – O regresso das caravelas”, among other titles, written as chronicles, such as “Polícias e Ladrões”, “Os Flechas Atacam de Novo”, and “Diz que é uma espécie de democracia”.
“Romance de uma Conspiração” and “Corações Irritáveis”, the name by which Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from war was first identified, are other of his books, both works of fiction.
On television, he mainly worked for SIC as a scriptwriter and reporter. In theater, he adapted the novel “Claraboia”, by José Saramago, which was staged by the company A Barraca, featuring his sister, actress Maria do Céu Guerra.
Throughout his journalistic career, he won a dozen awards, including from the Casa da Imprensa, the Gazeta Prize from the Journalists’ Club, the National Reporting Prize from the Porto Journalists’ Club, and the Radio Reporting Prize from the Portuguese Press Club.
In 2010, he was awarded the Gazeta Merit Prize and, in 2014, the Igrejas Caeiro Prize from the Portuguese Society of Authors, aimed at distinguishing personalities in radio.
Between 2017 and 2021, he served as the listener provider at public radio.
When he published “Corações Irritáveis” in 2016, João Paulo Guerra told Lusa agency that this book “talks about war, because war has so many sequels that even democracy in Portugal is a result of war,” he stated. “It was from war that the men who made democracy appeared. But there are also many ‘irritable hearts’ and wounds that never healed.” “There are wars that never end and no matter how many ceasefire agreements are signed, there is always a ceasefire that each one has with themselves that is not signed,” he then told Lusa. “But this book is my ceasefire.”