Argentina III

WHEREAS important media outlets have been involved in several court cases WHEREAS the newspaper La Nación was raided on May 29 under an order issued by federal judge María Romilda Servini de Cubría, who was investigating a news report on alleged tax evasion and money laundering by some of its shareholders WHEREAS La Nación claimed that ever since it began to renegotiate its debt for the installation of a new printing facility, its publishing company had been targeted in a demonstrative smear campaign. WHEREAS the Argentine press has firmly emphasized the brazen political motives behind this raid WHEREAS in another case that has revealed questionable actions in the judiciary, the case against Ernestina Herrera de Noble, editor of the newspaper Clarín, for alleged irregularities in the adoption of her children was finally dismissed WHEREAS Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: “Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press” THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to address the Argentine judiciary and its highest body, the Supreme Court, to express the deep concern of the press in the Americas over the actions of certain judges that constitute serious procedural flaws and the lack of independence in carrying out their duties.