Several Argentine organizations, including AMARC Argentina, Centro de Investigaciones ICEP-UNQ, CoNTA, FARCO, FATPREN, REDCOM, Red de Medios Digitales, Sipreba and CELS, jointly made a presentation to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and to the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression with the aim of expressing growing concerns about the situation of press freedom in the country, especially in relation to the recent actions of President Javier Milei's government.
In just two months in office, Milei's government took controversial measures, including the suspension of limits on the concentration of media ownership at the national level and a takeover of the public media system, with the promise of privatizing it. Furthermore, there have been reports of violent repression against press workers covering demonstrations against state adjustment and dismantling policies.
"The conviction that the State should not put limits on the private sector is leading the government to dismantle a media system organized into three sectors: the private-commercial, the one managed by non-profit civil society and the state/public. A media system that we built very expensively in our country after decades in which only the owners of private media had the conditions to carry out their activities," the statement said.
"Additionally, there is verbal and physical violence against press workers, which is not limited to the repeated repressions of recent days but also includes a persistent attack by the president and his officials on journalists, among various other practices that hinder journalistic work," it added.
