(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – Early in the morning of 11 June 2004, a news crew from the “Puntodoc” television programme, broadcast on América television station, in Buenos Aires, were attacked by employees of a nightclub. The incident occurred in Córdoba province, central Argentina, in a bar known as a place where men go to pick up prostitutes. […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – Early in the morning of 11 June 2004, a news crew from the “Puntodoc” television programme, broadcast on América television station, in Buenos Aires, were attacked by employees of a nightclub. The incident occurred in Córdoba province, central Argentina, in a bar known as a place where men go to pick up prostitutes.
The news crew headed by Daniel Tognetti was investigating a group of individuals who were tricking young women from Misiones province, northeastern Argentina, into coming to Córdoba province and then forcing them to work as prostitutes.
The journalists went to the “Cincomentarios” bar together with a relative of one of the young women, from San Vicente, Misiones province.
When they entered the bar, with their television cameras, the journalists were assaulted by the bar’s employees. They were forced to leave the bar and once outside, a man tried to run them over with his van. The “Puntodoc” news crew was finally able to flee in the station’s vehicle.
“Local police acted in complicity with the assailants. They refused to accept our complaint and said they could not guarantee our safety,” Tognetti told PERIODISTAS. The journalist added that even though Governor José Manuel de la Sota assured him over the phone that an investigation would be launched, Security Minister Carlos Tomás Alesandri dismissed the “Puntodoc” news crew’s allegations about the prostitution activities at the nightclub as “sensationalism.”
In a press release, PERIODISTAS condemned the attack on the journalists and urged Córdoba provincial authorities to shed light on the incident.
