The drug trafficking threats against journalists in the city of Rosario, far from diminishing, persisted this semester. On December 12, a man on a motorcycle shot at the front of the building of the Televisión Litoral channel. Two weeks later, the facilities of the same medium were attacked with bullets.
These attacks were added to other acts of direct and personal threats against journalists and intimidation of reporters, photographers, and camera operators who cover insecurity linked to drug traffickers. Rosario has had more than 300 homicides related to drug trafficking in the last year, which is four times the average of any other Argentine city. As a result, the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (Adepa) is requesting an IAPA mission to analyze the risks and threats suffered by the press.
Journalist Gabriel Prósperi, of América channel, was injured last February by relatives and friends of a man accused of murder while covering a trial in the city of Zárate, province of Buenos Aires. That month, team members of Crónica TV and Pagina 12 photographer were beaten by members of the city of Buenos Aires police during the coverage of a demonstration.
Organizations dedicated to the defense of freedom of expression expressed concern about the virtual harassment, through social networks, against journalist Mariana Abiuso, gender editor of TN channel, for her coverage of the trial of the murder of a minor perpetrated by the minor's mother and her partner. Abiuso decided to close her Twitter account. Journalist Uki Goñi received more than 2.000 messages through social media with insults and threats due to his opinions in a column published in The Guardian newspaper during the World Cup.
The lawyers of Vice-President Cristina Kirchner threatened journalist Diego Cabot, author of the investigation on the so-called "corruption notebooks." They told him he should be worried about the high probability of imprisonment.
In the judicial area, the Justice of Formosa ordered the digital media Sala de Prensa Formosa to remove journalistic material referring to a public official and prohibited it from publishing information related to her.
The 13th Oral Criminal Court of Buenos Aires banned the coverage of the hearings of an oral and public trial against the Boca Juniors soccer club leader. The prohibition violates Articles 1, 14, and 32 of the National Constitution and Article 13 of the Pact of San José, Costa Rica.
On January 3, the head of the Intelligence Agency announced that he would denounce journalists Joaquín Morales Solá, of La Nación and Daniel Santoro, of Clarín, for the dissemination of a request for reports by national legislators in the context of possible crimes committed by alleged intelligence agents. The public interest in the information disclosed, related to the alleged commission of crimes by members of the security forces, places it within the scope of protection of freedom of expression, protected by the Argentine Constitution. Adepa pointed out that the National Intelligence Law's penalties for violating secrets do not apply to journalists or the media.
On April 10, the National Communications Agency vice president in charge of enforcing the Media Law announced an executive summary to analyze the alleged violation for promoting discriminatory treatment in a television program of the La Nación+ channel. The application of fines could reach 10% of the channel's advertising turnover. The agency has 32 files related to the contents of the La Nación+. In a recent resolution of the Secretariat of Media, the organization that awards official advertising said that the violators would not receive official advertising. Administrative agencies' ethical control of journalistic content clashes with constitutional principles and Inter-American standards on freedom of the press. Different organizations warned that Judicial Power is the only sphere in which the following responsibility derived from the practice of journalism can be determined.
