This Monday, March 4, the Buenos Aires Police blocked access to the headquarters of the Télam news agency for its employees, after last Friday President Javier Milei announced the closure of the media outlet after almost 80 years of history. The president, who described Télam as a means of “Kirchnerist propaganda,” is advancing his announced intention to dismantle or privatize public companies, part of his objective to reduce the size of the State.
First modification: 03/04/2024 – 19:37 Last modification: 03/04/2024 – 19:42
4 min
Upon arriving at work this Monday, March 4, employees of the state news agency Télam found the media outlet’s headquarters surrounded.
The doors of the 80-year-old institution appeared blocked and under police surveillance, preventing staff from accessing its offices.
The 700 workers were asked to stop working for at least a week, according to an internal memo they received in the last few hours. The note indicates that they are “exempted” from working for the next 7 days from 11:59 p.m. local time on Sunday, March 3, “with pay.”
Additionally, the agency’s website abruptly went down. On it you can now only see the national coat of arms and a message that says: “page under reconstruction.”
It is not even possible to access previously published content.
It is a blow against democracy and freedom of expression
The employees found this scenario after Last Friday, in his speech before Congress, President Javier Milei announced the closure of the agency, which he described as “Kirchnerist propaganda.”
However, the workers emphasize that they were not notified in advance about when their functions would cease and how the media outlet would cease to operate.
“It is a blow against democracy and freedom of expression and that is why we are going to defend it,” said the Buenos Aires Press Union, in a statement broadcast on platform X.
Protests are expected in Argentina
The Argentine Federation of Press Workers (Fatpren) and the Buenos Aires Press Union (Sipreba) rejected the closure in a statement and ratified their “commitment to defend” Télam “with all legal, union and political actions that are necessary.” to protect both its social role in democracy and all sources of employment”.
“The national government is carrying out one of the worst attacks on freedom of expression in the last 40 years of democracy. Tonight, the city police fenced off the two buildings of the National News and Advertising Agency Télam to avoid the massive hug and prevent workers from accessing the building, denounced the Sipreba union, in a statement released on social networks.
Workers from Argentina’s state news agency, Télam, outside the closed media outlet’s headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 4, 2024. © ©Reuters/Agustin Marcaria/
Following the measure, protests are planned for the next few hours in which Télam employees will participate.
Although Milei’s decision was applauded by some legislators who support the libertarian president, some organizations, such as the Association of Foreign Correspondents of Argentina, highlight that for decades Télam has served as a crucial source of information about the country for local and international media.
The Association added that in case there are problems to be resolved, the agency must be “reformed, but not annihilated.”
Milei’s justifications for the closure of Télam
The Argentine president used similar arguments in his recent announcement to close Télam and the termination of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI), which he stated “was spending millions of pesos to maintain paid militants.”
A justification that came after describing the agency as a means of “propaganda of Kirchnerism.”
His words are reminiscent of those used, in 2018, by the then Secretary of Public Media, Hernán Lombardi, when the then Government ordered the withdrawal of 357 people from the agency. Most of these dismissals were later reversed by the courts.
Beyond the qualifiers, Milei would be pointing to his promised plans to dismantle or privatize public companies as part of his purpose to reduce the size of the State.
FILE-Argentine President Javier Milei addresses the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on February 24, 2024. © Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz
Despite the fact that its flagship project, the Bases law, popularly known as the ‘Omnibus law’ – which includes a package of controversial economic reforms – stumbled due to lack of support in Congress and was returned for debate in the House of Representatives committees. Deputies, Milei intends to advance its controversial financial reforms. All in a country immersed in a serious economic crisis and with the highest inflation in the world.
Previously, the new Argentine president put on the table the privatization of state companies such as Aerolíneas Argentinas or the Banco de la Nación, although amidst the protests and reluctance of legislators he had to remove the names of companies from the list, such as the oil company YPF.
With Reuters and local media