By Maira Magro
In yet another demonstration of bad blood between the Argentine government and the largest media group in the country, the newspaper Clarín published a statement decrying the "escalation of administrative and judicial persecution" of the press.
According to the news agency Télam, the Financial Intelligence Unit, under the Ministry of Justice of Argentina, is accusing Clarín of alleged criminal manipulation of stock prices offered on the stock exchanges in London and Buenos Aires.
Clarin called it a "political maneuver" by the government to undermine the company: "The entrance of the Clarín group on the stock exchange was done in the framework of a regular and transparent process, in compliance with all local and international rules."
An article in Clarín also reported that on Thursday, two inspectors visited the publication's headquarters, asking for financial records from 1976 and 1977 as part of another complaint, this time involving the company's subsidiary Papel Prensa, the country's largest newsprint manufacturer.
The law only requires businesses to keep records for 10 years, the Clarín article pointed out. The newspaper also said a similar inspection was made a week ago at the newspaper La Nación.
Read here more from the Knight Center about disputes between the Argentine government and Clarín.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
