Miami (August 23, 2010).- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA), through its president, Alejandro Aguirre, today voiced concern at an attempt by Argentina’s federal government to “control independent media,” calling a number of official actions taken in recent weeks “a growing danger to freedom of expression that is affecting all the people” in the South American nation.
In interviews published today in the Argentine newspapers La Nación and Clarín, in which Aguirre says the organization he heads is considering sending a mission to Argentina, he declared, “the government is looking for a way to control the country’s independent media with the aim of winning a political contest.” He added that such interference would affect “all Argentineans, not just the media, as they would have fewer sources, media outlets and radio and television channels to receive or send information.”
The IAPA president’s reaction was voiced as Argentine President Cristina Kirchner prepared to present tomorrow a report on Papel Prensa, the country’s main newsprint supply company, among whose shareholders are the Clarín Group and La Nación, with the government holding a minority interest. The report, it was learned, will deal with the allegedly illegal purchase of the company during the military dictatorship.
Aguirre’s criticism of the Argentine government also has to do with a series of actions that have been taken against a number of media outlets and journalists, principally against the Clarín Group. Aguirre referred to the expiry of the license of Fibertel, an Internet services provider belonging to the group, saying he regrets that the government is using “all the means and political tools at its disposal in an attempt to turn it into the master of what is reported.”
The IAPA has issued several expressions of concern about what is happening in Argentina, a matter that it has also discussed at its twice-yearly membership meetings, particularly as regards to the increasing governmental hostility towards the press as demonstrated in the discriminatory placement of official advertising, the lack of access to official information, the verbal attacks on media and journalists, and the pernicious contents of the new press law or the Law on Audiovisual Services.
A recent government resolution ordered the withdrawal of Fibertel’s license, meaning it will have to cease operations within 90 days, to the detriment of more than 1 million subscribers. The government alleged that the Clarín Group company, which launched Internet service 13 years ago, had “failed to comply with federal law” and was using its license unlawfully after merging with the Cablevisión cable TV company in 2002 in an operation that “was never approved by the federal government.”
Aguirre, editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Américas, declared, “We see the situation with great concern, not only because of the results of the government’s dispute with critical independent news media but also due to the political interests and the lack of tolerance, going against the people’s right to have diversified sources of information.”
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org
