May 13th, 2013
In Argentina, media organizations take sides: for or against the government. Graciela Mochkofsky tells the story behind the turf war between President Fernández de Kirchner and Grupo Clarín.
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Photo: Demotix
Argentina has an extraordinary number of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations. Greater Buenos Aires, the largest urban centre where 13.5 million people live has 18 newspapers, 37 TV channels (five analogue and 32 digital), seven news channels, and 550 AM and FM radio stations. Does this mean that it is a thriving market, with highly educated, enlightened audiences, where the development of the media is directly linked to prosperity?
No. The reason Argentina boasts a huge proliferation of media organisations is strictly political.
(more…)
May 4th, 2012
A reporter was
beaten to death as he entered his home in Neuquén, Argentina, on 29 April. Adolfo Salazar, journalist and owner of the FM radio station La Radio de Fito, is reported to have died from head trauma. According to local police, the motive for the killing remains unclear.
January 3rd, 2012
An Argentinian TV reporter and cameraman were
beaten, ordered to strip and threatened with death while investigating reports of human trafficking on 29 December. Journalist Julián Chabert and cameraman Raúl Zalazar, of Channel 7 of Mendoza,
said they were investigating reports of Bolivian immigrants suffering labour exploitation at an olive producing plantation when the farm’s owner locked them in the kitchen and threatened to kill them. Chabert used his mobile phone to contact the police, who rescued the pair and arrested the landowner.
August 11th, 2011
Argentina‘s National Criminal Court has
issued an interim order to block a website and blog used to expose corruption and ordered the National Communications Commission to instruct all internet service providers to temporarily block access to them. Using the motto “Let’s stop lies and hypocrisy”,
leakymails.com sought to obtain and publish emails either from official or personal accounts, pictures, videos or any other document exposing misbehaviours or unethical actions of public figures. Dr Esteban José Rosa Alves, General Director of the Argentinean Ministry of National Security, denounced the websites to the judicial authorities, arguing that their content jeopardised national security and risked the privacy of a number of public functionaries.
August 3rd, 2011
Carlos Walker, news editor for the site 0223.com.ar, was beaten and shot in the leg on 29th July in Mar del Plata, eastern
Argentina, while reportedly photographing posters that featured political propaganda. In another episode in the country, journalist Leo Graciarena and graphic reporter Francisco Guillén, of the newspaper La Capital, were attacked by armed individuals while investigating a poor settlement in the city of Rosario, the paper said.
May 5th, 2011
Argentina has found an effective way of stifling independent inflation data — fining economists who question the official government statistics. Ed Stocker reports
In Argentina, inflation is never far from the media agenda. Primetime news channels endlessly debate the monthly rises in the canasta básica — the basic monthly family shopping basket — and the apparent divergence from official statistics.
Expressing contrasting views about the level of inflation in the country has become a divisive issue, highlighted by the decision of Internal Commerce Secretariat to fine several companies in April over their price-rise data.
Companies fined include Estudio Bein & Asociados, Finsoport, M&S Consultores and GRA Consultoras, as well as Graciela Bevacqua, a former employee of Indec, the state organisation charged with gathering statistics.
The secretariat claimed companies were being fined for publishing information that lacked “scientific rigour”, adding that if it was broadcast by media organisations it could “lead to error, deception or confusion”.
Miguel Kiguel , a former economist for the World Bank and head of the Econviews financial consultancy, received a fine of AR$500,000 (£73,000) for his forecast.
Speaking to Index on Censorship, he said: “This whole episode [fine] is surprising. The process is based on fair commerce laws that don’t apply to professional services and misleading advertising –– but we don’t carry out any type of advertising.
“It’s a way of scaring professionals who suggest that inflation is higher than the figures published by Indec.”
Asked if the government’s actions amounted to a freedom of expression violation, he replied: “Effectively these fines limit freedom of expression. The whole case is based on public declarations that I made in newspapers and on the radio. It is very worrying that one can receive very high fines for expressing one’s opinion on inflation and monetary policy.”
Last Thursday (28 April ) members of the Internal Commerce Secretariat defended their decision to impose fines. El Cronista Comericial, a newspaper that had previously questioned the reasons behind the fines, published an article by Internal Commerce national director Fernando Carro and Graciela Peppe, entitled “The truth will make us free”.
In the article they wrote: “One cannot assume that the resolutions behind the fines violate rights guaranteed by the National Constitution… Claiming that the fines infringe constitutional rights has no basis.” They added that suggesting government actions were an act of censorship showed a “profound confusion”.
The article continued: “From the ongoing investigation it has been possible to prove that the levels [of inflation] ascertained and disseminated by the firms that have been punished are little more than an artificial invention, based on reflections lacking the smallest hint of reliability.”
Earlier this year Indec published its figures for 2010, stating that inflation for the year was 10.9 per cent. Other economists suggest the unofficial figure is closer to 25 per cent.
Last April a group of pro-government activists interrupted the launch of a new book criticising Indec at Buenos Aires’ annual Feria del Libro (Book Fair). Gustavo Noreiga’s Indek: historia íntima de una estafa (Indek: the intimate story of a fraud) criticises the running of the statistics body, claiming President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner exercises political control over it.
Ed Stocker is a freelance writer based in Buenos Aires and London
September 7th, 2010
The director of a news programme for Mundo Villa TV was
murdered in Buenos Airies on 4 September. Adam Ledezma was stabbed after
he left his house at 4.45 am to help with a neighbour’s electricity problem, and was found dead half an hour later. The journalist’s wife said he had received threats. The cable channel is based in a large slum in the centre of the city, reporting on the lives of immigrants. Ledezma, who was born in Bolivia, was also a correspondent for Mundo Villa newspaper. Police are now investigating the case.
May 18th, 2010
President Sebastián Piñera, who took power in March, agreed on 15 May to sell his TV Station,
Chilevisión, to a local investment group for $130m USD. One of Piñera’s campaign promises was that he would divest his business holdings, including Chilevisión. According to local media reports, the
Clarín Group offered $10m more than the local fund, but Piñera
rejected the offer to avoid political conflicts with the Argentinian government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, which has a
tense relationship with the company.
