Rita Neves tells us of her work at SIC Notícias, the 24-hour news channel, her love of Lagos and her time at Sky News.
Informed, pleasant, calm and assertive. These are the characteristics that best describe the Rita Neves we see on our television screens. Away from the bright lights of the studio, however, Rita is playful and full of laughter. “I’m in my 40s now, but I feel like I’m 20! I act like a clown at times. My son says that I’m the one who makes him laugh the most!”
Rita’s mother is from Angola and her father from Madeira. She was born in the Azores but for most of her life Lisbon has been home. Communication has always been key to Rita. As a child, she enjoyed nothing more than watching the children’s news channel and interviewing her brothers by pretending to be a news reporter. It’s fair to say, journalism and presenting has always been her calling.
After graduating in media studies from the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon, and a brief but beneficial career in radio, Rita won, in 2006, a much-coveted internship at SIC. With her strong work ethic and passion for news, she soon caught the eye of senior executives. When SIC Notícias were seeking news anchors for the late-night schedules, Rita jumped at the chance. Almost 20 years later and she’s still at SIC Notícias and is the news anchor for their mid-afternoon show, Primerio Journal.
“I left university with the dream of working at SIC Notícias. I began as an intern and I’ve never left. I divide my time between the studio and the newsroom. Whether as a news anchor, reporter or journalist, my commitment remains the same: providing rigorous and credible journalism.”
While journalism has always been her calling, Rita readily acknowledges it can be a tough profession, and perhaps especially so today, for anyone looking to follow a similar path. “Resilience is key. The majority of journalistic roles are hard work and are not well paid. Despite that, it’s attractive work for many people, so there’s lots of competition. You must have a sense of mission and a desire to make this your profession.” I suspect this goes some way to explaining Rita’s success. She loves what she does and has worked hard to get to where she is.
The 90 minutes we see her on our television screens belies all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Rita will arrive at the studio approximately four hours before she goes on air. There’s research to do on the people she’ll be interviewing and the stories she’ll be presenting. There’s hair, makeup and clothes to organise. There’s an aspect of her work that’s always intrigued me – how much freedom news anchors have to ask the questions they feel need to be asked. “I’ve never been told what questions I should or shouldn’t ask. I will sometimes ask colleagues for advice about where to direct my questioning, but ultimately, it’s my decision.”
In 2011, Rita spent a month at Sky News. She loved her time there and fell in love with London. It gave her an opportunity to see how other broadcasters work and there were, at that time at least, notable differences. “The newsroom at Sky News was tightly scheduled, more so than at SIC Notícias. They were also fairly quiet, whereas ours are more vibrant and often quite noisy. I also remember the dining facilities at Sky News at that time were pretty much non-existent, with people doing their own thing. At SIC, we have a large canteen where virtually everyone interacts regardless of their role.”
Rita loves her work and the opportunity it gives her to communicate. Reflecting on her career, she told me, “I feel very fortunate and grateful. It can sometimes feel like someone is looking out for me; that the universe has my back.” There’s a particular thrill when delivering breaking news and all the unpredictability and excitement that entails. She told me of the recent earthquake that had a particular impact on Lisbon and how unusual that was, presenting live on air about something Rita and her colleagues were experiencing in real time. Quite understandably, if the breaking news concerns fatalities or she is reporting on someone’s passing, then that’s an element she absolutely does not enjoy. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened too often.
As a well-known and respected name, Rita is often in demand as a presenter, moderator and a host at business conventions. In recent years, she’s developed a keen interest in real estate and has even launched her own property-related podcast, called Chave na Mão. She worries about how difficult it is for young people to get on the property ladder and, whilst recognising how property prices have increased in recent years, feels that much of the problem rests with low rates of pay in Portugal, especially when compared to other western nations.
On her Instagram page, Rita gives a great insight to her personal life and her work too. She prioritises her health and well-being and can often be seen working out at the gym and practising yoga and meditation. She rarely has time to watch television and enjoys hip hop music and rap. Travel is a passion and Rita often vacations in the Algarve, with Lagos being one of her favourite places; she enjoys its climate and beaches.
As for the future, the most important thing is to continue doing what she loves the most – communicating with people, whether it be through her work at SIC Notícias or her podcast or other opportunities that might arise in the future. With her work ethic, positive attitude and likeability, I’m sure Rita will continue to go from strength to strength and the universe will continue to have her back.
Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC) is one of the most popular television networks in Portugal. SIC Notícias is their 24-hour news channel on which Rita Neves presents the mid-afternoon show Primeiro Journal
www.instagram.com/stories/ritaneves.sic
The Chave na Mão podcast is available on Apple and Spotify and other podcast services.
