José Rodrigues dos Santos

José António Afonso Rodrigues dos Santos (born 1 April 1964 in Beira, Overseas Province of Mozambique) is a Portuguese writer, university lecturer and journalist.

Life and career

He was born in the city of Beira, Overseas Province of Mozambique, a Portuguese territory at that time, and lived most of his childhood in Tete, Overseas Province of Mozambique. He is the eldest of two sons of Medical Doctor José da Paz Brandão Rodrigues dos Santos (Penafiel, 13 October 1930 – January 1986) and wife Maria Manuela de Campos Afonso Matos. His brother is João Nuno, born in Tete, Mozambique, on 6 April 1969 and married to Ana Mafalda Quirino de Matos Vilarigues, by whom he has three children Mariana, Afonso da Paz and Nuno da Paz Vilarigues Rodrigues dos Santos.^[1] Dos Santos lived in Portugal after the events that led to the independence of Mozambique in 1975 and the eruption of the Mozambican Civil War in 1977. Firstly the family fled to Lisbon, then after the divorce of his parents he lived with his mother. As a result of his mother's financial difficulties, he was raised by his father in Penafiel, and then Macau, then a Portuguese territory. José Rodrigues dos Santos went back to Lisbon in 1983 to study at the New University of Lisbon.

In 1988 he married his wife Florbela Cardoso, daughter of Dulce Cardoso and an unknown father, with whom he has two daughters, Catarina and Inês Cardoso Rodrigues dos Santos.

Formerly a reporter for the BBC, he has covered more than a dozen wars, teaches journalism at the New University of Lisbon, and anchors the Telejornal of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), of which he became the Director of Programs. He has also won many awards, including the Golden Globes.

Controversy

From 2014, Rodrigues dos Santos has started to attract some controversy.

On March 25th 2014 the journalist was criticised after taking a confrontational tone during an interview with former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates ^[2]

On January 24th 2015, when reporting on the Greek general elections, Rodrigues dos Santos described Greek people as "paralytics" and "penguins" who are always "begging for a subsidy" ^{[3] [4]}

On October 7h 2015, the journalist was criticised for allegedly making an homophobic comment as he purposefully switched the masculine form "eleito" to the feminine "eleita" when introducing a gay Member of Parliament while reading the news. Rodrigues dos Santos refused to apologize. However, the news director from RTP apologized publicly to the Member of Parliament.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Published works

Essays

• Crónicas de Guerra – Vol. I – Da Crimeia a Dachau (2002)
• Crónicas de Guerra – Vol. II – De Saigão a Bagdade (2002)
• A Verdade da Guerra (2003)

Novels

• A Ilha das Trevas (2002)
• A Filha do Capitão (2004)
• Codex 632: The Secret of Christopher Columbus: A Novel (2005)
• A Fórmula de Deus (2006)
• O Sétimo Selo (2007)
• A Vida num Sopro (2008)
• Fúria Divina (2009)
• O Anjo Branco (2010)
• O Último Segredo (2011)
• The Einstein Enigma (2011)
• A Mão do Diabo (2012)
• O Homem de Constantinopla (2013)
• Um Milionário em Lisboa (2013)
• A Chave de Salomão(2014)

References

External links

• José Rodrigues dos Santos in a Portuguese Genealogical site