Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner lashed out at the media on her Twitter account after the Spanish newspaper El País published a fake photograph of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
Fernández called the photography "underhanded" and went on to slam the "sleazebag press," saying it was “the same everywhere.” The press in Argentina, including La Reforma and the websire 24 Horas, noted how the president used the opportunity to revile media around the world that she considers sensationalist, such as The Sun, as a way to lambaste Clarín, one of her greatest critics.
Last Wednesday, El País showed a fake photograph supposedly showing Chávez intubated in an operating room on its website. The photo, which could not be independently verified, was taken down soon afterwards and the newspaper halted distribution of the Thursday, Jan. 24 print edition that headlined with the photo. A new front page was designed that morning and the publication apologized to its readers for "any damage done."
Click here or scroll down to read President Fernández's tweets about the blunder.
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.
