For the second time in less than a month, unknown assailants fired several shots at the facade of Grupo Televisión Litoral, despite the police protection posted there since the first attack on December 12.
This statement was originally published on en.sipiapa.org on 29 December 2022.
For the second time in less than a month, unknown assailants fired several shots at the facade of Grupo Televisión Litoral
The escalation of violence against the media in the Argentine city of Rosario, where on Wednesday there was a new attack with firearms against the headquarters of a multimedia company,” could be an indication of greater evils that the authorities must neutralize immediately,” the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said today.
For the second time in less than a month, unknown assailants fired several shots at the facade of Grupo Televisión Litoral, despite the police protection posted there since the first attack on December 12. The perpetrators escaped, and the police later recovered the car used by the attackers and arrested two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, who are being investigated. No injuries were reported in the incident. The media group attacked operates Canal 3, Radio 2, Rosario 3, and FM Vida and Frecuencia Plus stations.
“Safety for journalists is deteriorating rapidly, and greater evils must be avoided. As soon as possible, the authorities must identify and bring to justice those responsible,” said IAPA President Michael Greenspon, global director of Print Licensing and Innovation at The New York Times Company, USA.
“These alarming events occur as part of a general pattern of violence in Rosario that resembles the actions of Mexican drug cartels in impunity. This could indicate greater evils that the authorities must neutralize immediately,” said Carlos Jornet, the editor of La Voz del Interior of Córdoba, Argentina, who chairs the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
On October 11, another Rosario television station, Telefé, was the target of a criminal raid. The thieves left a rag with red letters in front of the television station, with death threats against journalists.
On July 29, a man who later turned himself into the police shot twice at two journalists of the newspapers La Mañana de Neuquén and Río Negro. This event occurred in San Martín de Los Andes, province of Neuquén.
At its 78th General Assembly held on October 27-30 in Madrid, Spain, the IAPA emphasized the seriousness of this situation. The organization noted that the attacks in Argentina pose “a new challenge to press freedom organizations and the media, since the authorities do not have protection protocols for journalists, there are no specialized prosecutors’ offices, and the media do not have security protocols.”
