(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has warned the government of Argentina’s Neuquén province that attempts to pressure the daily “Río Negro” to reveal its sources in an article it published about embezzlement involving a government minister constitute a threat to democracy. In a letter to provincial governor Jorge Sobisch, the organisation called source confidentiality “the cornerstone of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has warned the government of Argentina’s Neuquén province that attempts to pressure the daily “Río Negro” to reveal its sources in an article it published about embezzlement involving a government minister constitute a threat to democracy.
In a letter to provincial governor Jorge Sobisch, the organisation called source confidentiality “the cornerstone of press freedom.”
“Without it, nobody would dare to give sensitive information to journalists,” said RSF. “Pressing the paper to reveal its sources is a serious threat to investigative journalism, which is vital for democracy.”
“We remind you that Article 8 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression says explicitly that every journalist has the right not to reveal sources of information.”
On 6 August 2004, the provincial government filed a complaint demanding that “Río Negro” disclose its sources for a 4 August article in which the paper reported that a branch of the Public Prosecutor’s Office was investigating suspected embezzlement by the Neuquén Provincial Bank while it was headed by the Neuquén’s current Minister of Social Security and Labour, Luis Manganaro. The paper said between 500,000 and 700,000 pesos (approx. US$165,000 to 229,500; 135,000 to 190,000 euros) were stolen from a federal funding authority.
Manganaro called for an investigation into the journalists’ sources and into which officials had access to the information in the article and may have leaked information to the journalists. The paper’s management has called the minister’s request an “unacceptable attack on press freedom and encroachment on the independence of the judiciary.”
The editor of the Neuquén daily “La Nación”, Hector Mauriño, noted that this was not an isolated case, but rather part of a long history of government hostility toward “Río Negro”. In January 2003, provincial public institutions cancelled their advertising in the paper after it accused the governor of corruption (see IFEX alerts of 21 March and 10 January 2003).
