The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) presented its annual report on Freedom of the Press 2022, in which it
recorded 88 attacks on freedom of the press,
with a drop of 18.5% compared to the previous year, although 50% above the Mauricio Macri's last year of management.
The entity warned about
an increase in the danger of attacks on the press
, especially due to the advance of drug trafficking in the Santa Fe city of Rosario.
"Journalism under threat from organized crime",
titled its FOPEA report, where it stated that "in the face of the increase in drug violence, a State capable of providing security to journalists and guaranteeing freedom of expression is needed."
Last year “closed with a new concrete, real and palpable alarm for journalists: the threat of organized crime.
Rosario has become the gateway for
drug traffickers, their ways and their resources to advance against the media and journalists.
The situation is serious and it could be even more so with a state that is absent, passive and incapable of guaranteeing the security and protection of journalists,” said
Fernando Stanich
, director of the FOPEA Freedom of Expression Program.
For example, the Televisión Litoral
facilities
were the target of two shootings, which did not produce fatalities.
And on the premises of
Telefe Rosario
an intimidating mafia poster appeared last October, which warned: "Stop dirtying and condemning the kids with your tongue, because we are going to kill journalists. You don't mess with the mafia," they warned with the same slogan that they put in various drug attacks in the region.
Rosario's LT3 study.
The radio was left off the air last Friday due to the theft of materials and the attack on the transmitting plant.
Beyond the announcements to implement measures against organized crime, by the national government of Alberto Fernández and the provincial government of Omar Perotti, the truth is that
the increase in attacks on the press continues.
The most notable recent case occurred on Friday of last week, when after a theft of materials and cutting the programming of
LT3 Rosario
, a motorbike carried out a violent shooting attack against an employee and two police officers at its transmission plant, who fired at least four shots at them from a very close distance, which fortunately caused no injuries.
FOPEA Annual Report
On World Press Freedom Day
, FOPEA released its annual report at the Buenos Aires headquarters of the Universidad Austral, where it also launched a new Freedom of Expression Monitoring website.
There, the president of FOPEA,
Paula Moreno Román
, detailed the visits made by members of the Board of Directors to Rosario, where they were informed in the territory about the advance of drug trafficking in that city.
"Drug crime is advancing.
And that should at least be contained, if the State were to say present. The reality is that up to now it has acted as just another bystander," Moreno Román said.
The president of FOPEA stated that, in any case, "it is not this scenario that categorically defines the limitation on freedom of expression that our country has."
But she clarified that this axis was chosen for her annual report, because it has particular characteristics that extend.
"The growth of drug crime
needs a powerful political definition to stop it
," said Moreno Román.
The vice president of FOPEA,
Claudio Jacquelin
, highlighted that 7% of the attacks on the press came from organized crime.
Although it is a low percentage, "it acquires alarming relevance when it is noted that no case of this origin had been reported the previous year," said Jacquelin.
"The situation that is observed in Rosario, where all the
reported
attacks attributed to organized crime took place , is the most eloquent and worrying manifestation of this state of affairs and has reached extreme levels there," added the vice president of FOPEA.
Jacquelin maintained that Rosario is not an island in the middle of an ocean of security and freedom in which journalism is practiced in Argentina.
In fact,
the city of Buenos Aires was where the most attacks on the press took place
, with 33% of the total and a growth in the number of attacks, going from 17 cases in 2021 to 29 last year.
At the national level, "it is particularly disturbing that
almost half of the established facts (47.7%) were attributed
to
national officials, legislators and judges or national and provincial judicial agents, and municipal authorities. Precisely who should guarantee the unrestricted validity of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and access to public information", stated the vice president of FOPEA.
The latest reports from other organizations that defend freedom of expression also highlighted
the attacks on the press caused by the advance of drug trafficking
as one of the most worrying factors in the last year, which continues to expand and does not find an adequate response from the three branches of the state.
In addition to FOPEA, this was expressed during the last month by the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA), the Inter-American Press Association (SIP) and the Freedom of Expression + Democracy Foundation (LED).
The latter entity registered 182 cases of restrictions on freedom of expression in 2022, more than double that of FOPEA,
the highest number in the last seven years.