ARGENTINA I

WHEREAS for seven years Argentina has experienced an increase in harassment by the government and by allied sectors of the press not aligned with the political power WHEREAS currently government power and resources are being used to stigmatize and harass critical media and in general any player or social institution publicly expressing dissident opinions WHEREAS prominent officials far from holding reasoned debates on journalistic information tend to publicly offend and intimidate any media or journalist that publishes news or opinions that upsets them WHEREAS this attitude reached a new extreme last month when the Argentine head of the cabinet publicly tore up two pages of the newspaper Clarín in order to deny its content WHEREAS the Argentine president alluded, in dangerous dialectic constructions, to news media in an attempt to link them in some way to a case of great institutional seriousness such as the death of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman WHEREAS media and journalists not aligned with the government are a constant target of accusations of alleged dismissive and anti-democratic attitudes, leading to a climate of intimidation for the work of the press and constituting a real threat to the integrity of journalists and news media WHEREAS government authorities wish to revive criminal prosecution of critical editors, such as the Papel Prensa case, pressuring the Ministry of Justice by means of public declarations, the use of state media or the usurpation by the Executive Branch of the Public Prosecutor’s powers; WHEREAS these attitudes amount to a threat to freedom of expression 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 IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES to reject the official intimidation and stigmatization of journalists and media in Argentina as implying a case of censorship under terms of the American Convention on Human Rights to reject any pressure put on the Judiciary and interference by the Executive Branch with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the purpose of criminally  prosecuting critical editors and media to urge the Argentine authorities not to feed a climate of violence against the press and in general against anyone who expresses different opinions to ask the three branches of government to decide on the measures necessary to protect the work of the press and ensure the safety of journalists and media for which they work.