07/04/2020 - 12:32
- Clarín.com
- Politics
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its deep concern about "the harassment and stigmatization against Argentine journalists" by government officials of Alberto Fernández and asked the president not to allow the country to "go back in time."
The IAPA's message to the President comes amid threats from legal proceedings and discredit campaigns against journalists Luis Majul, Jorge Lanata and Daniel Santoro.
For its part, the request "not to go back in time" is in reference to "the repeated times that the IAPA had to recriminate government instigation against media and journalists" during the governments of Cristina Kirchner, current vice president.
IAPA President Christopher Barnes expressed his concern and said: "We regret that we again have to pay attention to Argentina, because we believed that government persecution, harassment and stigmatization against the media and journalists was a thing of the past."
Barnes, editor of the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner , added: "We hope that President Fernández, respectful of constitutional guarantees, encourages the moderation of his officials and does not allow the country to go back in time regarding freedom of the press and expression."
Roberto Rock, president of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and director of the Mexican portal, La Silla Rota , expressed: “Our concern is because experience has taught us that verbal or virtual harassment and stigmatization, beyond the intention of seeking to undermine the credibility of journalists, unfailingly they are the preamble to violence ”.
The IAPA authorities said that hate speech, which is currently generating a significant debate worldwide, "in addition to encouraging violence, weakens freedom of the press and democracy."
The IAPA is a non-profit entity dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami.
This week, in three separate releases, the National Academy of Journalism, the Association of Argentine Journalism Entities (ADEPA) and the Forum of Argentine Journalism (FOPEA) criticized Vice President Cristina Kirchner for a video two weeks ago in the that he accused several journalists of being complicit in an illegal association that spied on her illegally; and Senator Oscar Parrilli (Frente de Todos) for the harassment of journalists such as Luis Majul, Jorge Lanata, Daniel Santoro and Nicolás Wiñazki.
"When democracy needs more than ever to find consensus, statements like those of Senator Oscar Parrilli affect the climate of respect and dialogue. With this, it is only possible to impose fear and self-censorship, and it infringes on freedom of expression," he said. the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA), after Senator K described Luis Majul as an "inorganic intelligence agent".
Parrilli compared Lanata on Thursday with the dictator's repressor (Alfredo) Astiz, in an unusual attitude but that reveals the level of the operation against journalists that had begun last year, with Operation Pouf against Santoro in the Dolores court. , by Alejo Ramos Padilla.
The Kirchner senator and former head of the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) of Cristina Kirchner told El Destape radio that there is "a list of journalists in addition to Majul", among whom he mentioned Lanata, Santoro and Wiñazki, as journalists who were in "collusion" with intelligence agents. According to his vision, Majul "did not do journalism, he did intelligence tasks and that is prohibited by law."
After the FOPEA statement, the Kirchnerist senator redoubled the bet and stated that "Lanata is to journalism, what (Alfredo) Astiz went to human rights", in an unusual comparison of the journalist with the genocide convicted of crimes against humanity .
For its part, ADEPA maintained that "to pretend to hold a journalist responsible for the origin of information or to identify him with who may be one of his sources is to ignore the essence of investigative journalism. Furthermore, this affects the right to protect professional secrecy, protected by the National Constitution. "