(FOPEA /IFEX) – The following is a 23 January 2007 statement from FOPEA, an interim member of IFEX: The Argentine President makes a repeated display of his hostility to the journalistic community On 23 January 2007 Argentine President Nestor Kirchner harshly criticized the nation’s journalistic community during a speech from the seat of government. Kirchner […]
(FOPEA /IFEX) – The following is a 23 January 2007 statement from FOPEA, an interim member of IFEX:
The Argentine President makes a repeated display of his hostility to the journalistic community
On 23 January 2007 Argentine President Nestor Kirchner harshly criticized the nation’s journalistic community during a speech from the seat of government.
Kirchner spoke after the International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled in favour of Argentina on an issue related to a dispute between Argentina and Uruguay over the latter’s decision to build a pulp processing plant on a river shared by the two countries.
The statements add to a list of hostile acts against the press by Kirchner, who in three years of government has not given any press conferences, has identified the press as an opposing political force in campaign-style speeches and has ignored requests that the government give its support to a law for free access to public information and for legislation de-penalizing slander.
After the Court at the Hague delivered its ruling, rejecting a request made by Uruguay, the president spoke, extracting a folder of newspaper clippings to criticize the following Buenos Aires newspapers: “Clarin”, “La Nación”, “Ámbito Financiero”, “El Cronista Comercial” and “Perfil”. Using the clippings, he mentioned by name those journalists who had reported that government officials expected the court to rule against Argentina. In some passages, he referred to the reporters by their first names, in ironic tones.
FOPEA issued a press communiqué rejecting the “vengeful tone” of Kirchner’s speech, and urged the president to “rethink his relationship with the press, give press conferences (including the right to ask questions) and promote a public information law.” FOPEA also spoke of the “need for journalists and the news media to ask their readers, viewers and audiences to forgive them for the error, and to review their relationship with government sources who induced the mistake, although the primary responsibility was that of the journalist community.”
This dispatch was made possible thanks to the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
