World Association of News Publishers


Call for the Argentine government to end its campaign of intimidation against the independent press

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Call for the Argentine government to end its campaign of intimidation against the independent press

Article ID:

16578

Papel Prensa S.A., Argentina's leading producer of newsprint

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting on 2 June 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, during the 65th World Newspaper Congress and 20th World Editors Forum, calls on the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to immediately stop the current government-led campaign of intimidation against independent media.

In February 2013, the government called on major national and international companies to stop all advertising across several independent media companies, causing abrupt losses in advertising revenue for newspapers including Clarín, La Nación and Perfíl. In recent years, the government has unfairly distributed official advertising by concentrating it on a small selection of pro-government or non-critical media groups.

On 9 May, a group of pro-government legislators presented “Expropiación del 24 por ciento de Acciones de Papel Prensa S.A.” to Congress, a bill that aims to take full control of the country’s leading producer of newsprint, Papel Prensa. The bill, which is expected to be approved in early June, would give the government control over the production and importation of the industry’s main supply, and potentially allow it to pressure independent media by withholding supplies.

The Board expresses its deep concern over one of the most significantly deteriorating environments for freedom of expression in the Americas and calls for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to put an immediate end to all measures of intimidation and attacks that target the independent press.

Author

Andrew Heslop's picture

Andrew Heslop

Date

2013-06-01 23:00

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