Argentina

WHEREAS Argentina is undergoing the deepest and most prolonged economic crisis in its history WHEREAS the recession, which has been going on for four years, has brought journalistic enterprises to the brink and caused the disappearance of many throughout the country WHEREAS press freedom, pillar of democracy, is affected when news diversity and editorial independence are at risk because of the economic and financial suffocation of publishing companies WHEREAS the situation of Argentine newspapers is aggravated by the heavy weight of the high fees paid for the Value Added Tax which can reach 21% WHEREAS Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declares that “tariff and exchange policies, licenses for the importation of paper or news-gathering equipment, the assigning of radio and television frequencies and the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to address local press associations to express the IAPA’s solidarity with the Argentine media to contact Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde and his economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, to express this hemispheric organization’s deep concern about the devastating effects the crisis imposes on journalistic companies to ask them to take urgent measures to relieve the burden of newspapers and other publications, and in particular, to revoke the imposition of the Value Added Tax (IVA) on newsprint and the sale of newspapers.