There has been a notable decline in violent attacks against the Argentine
press, attributable to the changes wrought by public furor over the murder
of photojournalist José Luis Cabezas in January 1997. Nevertheless,
threats, harassment, and an explosion in punitive lawsuits continued to pose
challenges for journalists, particularly those in the provinces.
In Argentina, as elsewhere in Latin America, the press has gained widespread
public support for its role in exposing the military regime's murderous record
and investigating corruption in the current government. But pursuing such
stories has also created dangers for journalists: Those subjected to new
levels of scrutiny have frequently lashed out.
For example, during an explosive interview in January with Gabriela Cerruti,
editor of the newsmagazine trespuntos, Navy Capt. Alfredo Astiz
was not only unrepentant about his role as a member of the notorious death
squads in the 1970s, but warned Cerruti that he was "technically the best-trained
man in this country to kill a politician or a journalist." The ensuing outcry
over the published report forced Adm. Carlos Marrón to sentence Astiz
to 60 days' confinement. He was released from custody after 12 days, but
stripped of rank, uniform, and his pension. The same day that Astiz was released,
Cerruti received two threatening phone calls.
While the widespread revulsion over the Cabezas murder seemed to create an
atmosphere of greater security for journalists in the capital, Buenos Aires,
reporters working for provincial news outlets have been threatened and harassed
by local authorities. The Association for the Defense of Independent Journalists
(Periodistas), the Argentine press group founded in 1996 by 24 leading Argentine
journalists, documented more than 100 such cases in 1998.
A flurry of lawsuits filed mostly by public officials has made life difficult
for many of the country's top reporters. In March, President Carlos Saúl
Menem, Latin America's most litigious leader, won a US$150,000 judgment against
the weekly magazine Noticias . The National Court of Appeals
ruled that the magazine and its editors Jorge Fontevecchia and Héctor
D'Amico, had violated the president's privacy when it published an article
describing the flight of Menem's illegitimate son and the boy's mother to
Paraguay because of fears for their safety. The president never disputed
the accuracy of the report. While Noticias has appealed the decision
to the Supreme Court, there is little hope for an impartial hearing since
six of the nine justices were appointed by Menem after he expanded the number
of presiding judges in a blatant effort to gain political control of the
court.
After protracted and costly litigation, journalists have been hit with enormous
damage awards in defamation cases. In March, a judge ordered television news
reporter Bernardo Neustadt to pay US$80,000 to another judge who claimed
that she was defamed by a guest on his television show in 1993. In August,
a former civil servant won a US$50,000 judgment against Eduardo Aliverti,
a radio news reporter and columnist for the Buenos Aires
daily Página/12, stemming from a story Aliverti broadcast
in 1991. Both cases are on appeal. In another troubling decision in
April, Página/12 was ordered to publish a statement from
a presidential aid who was angered that the paper reported that he had been
recruiting Argentine mercenaries to fight in Croatia. While Argentine law
does not specifically recognize the "Right to Reply," justices have the authority
to compel news outlets to publish statements from individuals who feel they
have been maligned, even in instances where the accuracy of the news reports
has not been called into question (as was the case
with Página/12).
Argentine journalists also expressed concern that the government is using
legislation to control the press; pending bills would raise sales taxes on
newspapers and make the use of hidden cameras illegal (Argentine investigative
television programs have used hidden cameras to expose police corruption).
There was also a widespread public debate--in forums, on radio talk shows,
and in the press itself--about the fact that media ownership is becoming
increasingly concentrated in the hands of large conglomerates with no public
accountability. Journalists who have criticized the government have seen
their radio and television shows canceled. Periodistas alleged that government
pressure led to the firing of Olga Wormat, host of a popular radio show on
FM Horizonte. Wormat was dismissed after she aired a controversial interview
with Labor Minister Ermán González. In another incident, television
journalist Joaquín Morales Solá accused Constancio Vigil, a
major shareholder in Channel 9 and a close friend of Menem, of forcing the
cancellation of his news talk show in September. |
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