Argentina

We issued the following statement today in response to Wednesday’s approval by the Argentine Senate of a government-sponsored bill that repeals criminal defamation provisions from the penal code...

New York, September 11, 2009—Two hundred tax agents raided the offices of Argentina’s largest daily, Clarín, on Wednesday after the paper ran a cover story alleging that a government agency improperly granted a farm subsidy, the local press said. The action, which Clarín decried as government intimidation, has intensified a fierce debate between President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration and Argentina’s largest media conglomerate over a proposed overhaul of broadcasting laws.

New York, February 19, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a recent Argentine court ruling that orders the government to place state advertisements in critical publications.

Adding to a mounting body of international legal opinion, two landmark rulings held that public officials may not be shielded from public scrutiny. In May, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights voided a criminal defamation sentence against a local journalist and urged Argentina to reform its defamation laws in line with regional standards. Two months later, the country’s Supreme Court of Justice affirmed the “actual malice” standard in determining liability in defamation cases involving public officials.

The recent cancellation of a radio show hosted by prominent Argentine broadcast journalist Nelson Castro, a harsh critic of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's administration, sparked immediate controversy. Electroingeniería, the company that owns the Buenos Aires-based Radio Del Plata, announced on Friday that the news show "Puntos de Vista" (Points of View), which has been on the air for 16 years, will come to an end today, the local press reported. 

Gregorio Ríos, sentenced to life in prison in 2000 after being convicted of instigating the 1997 murder of Argentine photographer José Luis Cabezas, was released on parole today. In response, we issued the following statement...

Dear President Fernández de Kirchner: We are concerned that the Federal Broadcasting Committee may have been motivated by editorial issues in ordering the Buenos Aires-basedRadio Continental to stop broadcasting on its FM frequency.

According to a report released today by the nonprofit Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (Association for Civil Rights), or ADC, the Argentine government drastically increased its advertising budget in 2007, using public funds to reward friendly media, punish critical outlets, and promote the political campaign of current President Cristina Fernández...

New York, July 1, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists applauds the Argentine Supreme Court's unanimous decision asserting that public officials should be held to a high level of scrutiny and overturning a civil judgment against a national daily that criticized a government agency. In a ruling that sets some of...

New York, May 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists hails a new ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that urges Argentina to void a criminal defamation sentence against a local journalist and reform its defamations laws. The decision by the international court, based in San José, Costa Rica’s...