Argentina

WHEREAS press freedom in Argentina has come increasingly under threat from the government as a result of acts of intimidation and aggression directed at journalists and media outlets WHEREAS this verbal hostility has been compounded in recent months by other attacks encouraged or condoned by the authorities, including an incident in which the printing and distribution facilities of major newspapers and magazines were blocked by the truckers’ union, which is allied with the ruling party WHEREAS similarly, the government has stepped up its support for legislative initiatives, put forward in a confrontational manner, that under current political and economic conditions could divide and weaken the independent media WHEREAS rather than fostering an open, transparent debate that can accommodate the opinions and perspectives of different forces in politics, society, and the media, these initiatives are seemingly being used to exert pressure as a way of intimidating or subjugating journalists and media outlets WHEREAS instead of correcting some of the aberrations noted by the IAPA in previous years, the national government has further pursued actions that have a distorting effect on the media industry, such as the arbitrary placement of government advertising, the indirect co-optation of private media outlets through companies with close ties to the government, and the manipulation of news and images in the state-controlled media WHEREAS these developments reveal a degree of discomfort with the role of the press in a democracy and a lack of tolerance for dissent and genuine pluralism — phenomena that had been previously noted but which further deepened in the past six months WHEREAS Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “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 reiterate its concern over the deteriorating status of press freedom in Argentina, as evidenced in recent months by various attacks, threats, and proposals by the government that could have the direct or indirect effect of intimidating journalists or compromising their work to warn of repeated actions by the government, such as the manipulation of information, the discriminatory placement of government advertising, and administrative and legislative proposals that could be aimed at controlling and weakening the media, in terms of both its journalistic work and its financial independence to urge the government and the leaders of Argentina’s ruling party to reconsider these actions, put an end to the escalating harassment of the press, and thereby prove their commitment to full freedom of speech in Argentina.