Mensário das Casas do Povo was a periodical published between July 1946 and December 1971, during the time of the Portuguese Dictatorship. This is a rare and hard to find document of the instruments of manipulation and control of public opinion during those times. 

This journalistic space served as a means for the rural population, above all, to express their ideas and present their suggestions; it was addressed mainly to the common population of the countryside, to the rural man. This was the definition that the leaders of this medium intended to convey to the population, but it was evident that other interests, namely political propaganda, were present in the editorial program of this periodical. In fact, this means of communication served to (in)directly manipulate rural people, thus having a form of control over these agricultural inhabitants.

This publication, which essentially served the cultural policy of the Estado Novo Dictatorship (as a means of propaganda), had to be beautiful, readable and pleasant, in order to entice recipients through words and above all images. Because it was through its beautiful graphics that it attracted the attention of these people, since this population was largely illiterate. Taking advantage of this condition, the leaders deceived and manipulated their education, concentrating a large population in support of the political government of the time, since at this time the rural population generally dominated the country.