(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 13 November 2002, staff of the television programme “Telenoche Investiga”, broadcast on Channel 13 in Buenos Aires, reported that they had been subject to intimidation in recent days. The harassment began after the 23 October edition of the programme highlighted cases of abuses of minors at charitable institutions headed by a Catholic […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 13 November 2002, staff of the television programme “Telenoche Investiga”, broadcast on Channel 13 in Buenos Aires, reported that they had been subject to intimidation in recent days. The harassment began after the 23 October edition of the programme highlighted cases of abuses of minors at charitable institutions headed by a Catholic Church priest.
On 13 November, programme hosts María Laura Santillán and Juan Miceli reported that members of the programme had been followed, harassed and intimidated. No further details were provided for the programme employees’ own protection. Nevertheless, some media, including the magazine “Noticias”, revealed that an individual, who worked for the Navy during the military dictatorship and is currently employed by the State Intelligence Secretariat (Secretaría de Inteligencia del Estado, SIDE), had been tailing some of the journalists. The magazine noted, for example, that on 7 November the individual in question kept watch over the programme’s journalists as they dined at a restaurant in the San Telmo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
In a press release, PERIODISTAS stated that “such practices harken back to the eras of greatest authoritarianism in the country, when the independent press had to undergo similar treatment.” The organisation urged the national government to ensure that “a prompt and extensive investigation is carried out so that those who felt they could follow and harass the journalists without consequence can be identified.”
