Committee to Protect Journalists

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Guillermo Moreno, Argentina’s secretary of domestic commerce and one of the government’s most colorful figures, has been spotted in recent months with a range of striking accessories. In Congress, he was seen handing out traditional Argentine mini-cakes. In a picture taken on a government airplane, a balloon floats above his head. And during his state trip to Angola in May, an aide was photographeddistributing socks to poor children. All of this paraphernalia bears the same white background emblazoned with the simple words “Clarín Lies.”

Grupo Clarín, which owns the country’s most widely read daily newspaper, Clarín, as well as radio stations, broadcast and cable television outlets, and an Internet service provider, is Argentina’s principal media conglomerate and one of Latin America’s largest. It is also the principal adversary of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a battle pitting her and media outlets aligned with her government against those opposed to it. The government’s primary weapon is financial: It props up, through advertising, outlets with favorable editorial lines, while withholding that support from others, like Clarín. Critical media, in return, relentlessly hurl reproach at the administration.

For full text of this article, visit http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/09/amid-government-media-fight-argentine-journalism-suffers.php