Controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
Encyclopedia
Grupo Clarín
Grupo Clarín is the largest media conglomerate of Argentina.-Overview:Established as such in 1999, it includes the Clarín newspaper , Papel Prensa , the Artear media company, and numerous other media outlets.Rooted in the successful, 1945 launch of the centrist daily,...
and the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
have been involved in a number of controversies since 2008. Kirchnerism
Kirchnerism
Kirchnerism is a term used to refer to the political philosophy and supporters of Néstor Kirchner, president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, and of his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President from 2007...
(referring to the political philosophy and actions of Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina, 2003–2007, and of his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President from 2007) considers that Grupo Clarín (a corporation working on television, radio, newspapers, cable services, Internet companies, and broadcast of Football in Argentina
Football in Argentina
Football in Argentina is the most popular sport, the one with the most players and is the most popular recreational sport, played from childhood into old age...
) have a policy of monopolization
Monopolization
The term monopolization refers to an offense under Section 2 of the American Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890. Section 2 states that any person "who shall monopolize . ....
, while the Clarín media conglomerate considers that the acts of the government run contrary to freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. The controversies led to a number of bills sent by the government to the Argentine National Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
. The confrontation also led to many media sources reporting misleading information as demonstrated by independent analyst
Analyst
Analyst generally is a term for an individual of whom or which the primary function is a deep examination of a specific, limited area and may mean:* Accounting analyst, an accounting analyst evaluates and interprets public company financial statements...
Carlos Escudé
Carlos Escudé
Carlos Andrés Escudé Carvajal is an Argentine political scientist and author, who during the 1990s served as special advisor to one of Argentina's most distinguished Foreign Ministers - Guido di Tella...
when he evaluated how different media sources reported on Hillary Clintons visit to Buenos Aires.
Before the Kirchners' takeover, Grupo Clarín had a strong influence over Argentine politics. The group received criticism from other media company owners and from politicians. In the 1980s, César Jaroslavsky, a politician from the UCR, said "Beware of that newspaper. It attacks as a political party, and if you answer, it defends itself with press freedom".
First conflicts
The conflict started in 2008, during a period when the government was also in open confrontation with the agricultural sector. Grupo Clarín, led by CEO Héctor Magnetto, strongly supported the sector, and their newspapers published articles that were considered favorable to the "ruralists" or chacareros. The president reacted with strong criticism of the role of media, questioning whether freedom of speech "belonged to corporations or to ordinary citizens." The Government sent its "Resolution 125" for farm exports tax proposal to Congress which after a 18-hour Senate debate, was repealed in a tie vote broken by the Vice President Julio CobosJulio Cobos
Julio César Cleto Cobos is an Argentine politician, currently serving as the Vice President of Argentina alongside President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He started his political career as member of the Radical Civic Union , becoming Governor of Mendoza in 2003...
who voted against the executive branch resolution.
Nationalization of soccer broadcasting
The television broadcasting rights for all Argentine soccer league matches had been held by the Clarín Group cable channel TyC Sports since 1992. In August 2009, that contract was terminated by the Argentine Football Association and was given to the state channel Canal Siete.Law about media
In October 2009, the Argentine National CongressArgentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
approved "Law 26.522", known as the "Media Law" but usually described as "Ley K" by the Grupo Clarín. The new law served to deregulate the television and radio industries which until then were still limited to the few channels created by "Law 22.285", decreed by the military dictatorship of the 1970s. A series of five judicial appeals prevented it from coming into force for almost a year. The Supreme Court ruled against one of those appeals, declaring that it created a precedent where "a single legislator could not challenge an act of Congress and nor did judges have the authority to stop the application of an entire law." Some sources consider the other appeals to still be in effect. Nonetheless, the government published the details of the new law after the last judicial decision.
Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera
Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera are adopted children of Ernestina Herrera de NobleErnestina Herrera de Noble
Ernestina Herrera de Noble is a prominent Argentine publisher and executive. She is the largest shareholder of the Grupo Clarín media conglomerate and director of the flagship Clarín newspaper.-Life and times:...
, the owner of Clarín. It is suspected that they may be children of people forcedly removed
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
. They were receptive to initial testing to prove the matter definitively, but refused further interference from the government in the case, citing a violation of privacy. The President pledged to go "personally" to international courts to seek justice done if Argentine judges did not rule.
Cablevisión
In March 2010, TV cable network providers Cablevisión from Grupo Clarín and DirecTVDirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
intended to increase the rates, an action that the Argentine government appealed. Subsequently, in August 2010, a Federal Judge supported the government decision and prevented the two companies from changing their rates.
Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa is the only Argentine producer of celullose, the main raw material for newspapers. The company is owned by the Argentine government and the newspapers ClarínClarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
and La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
which bought it during the ¨military dictatorship of the 1970s
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
and has since then controlled its management. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner accused them of having done so by illicit means and taking advantage of its use against other Argentine newspapers, presenting a report, Papel Prensa: The Truth, claiming that during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
, while being threatened, the Gravier brothers were forced to sell Papel Prensa at a bargain price. Soon after, Isidoro Gravier denied the charges saying that the sale of the company took place while his brothers were free, and that their detention was not related to Papel Prensa but with their link to the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
guerrilla group although he had made statements to the contrary one month earlier, and was therefore later accused of being manipulated by Clarín. The Nunca Más report, written in the 1980s by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, contains no information about the Graviers being forced to give away their property. Michael Soltys, editor of the Buenos Aires Herald
Buenos Aires Herald
The Buenos Aires Herald is an English language daily newspaper from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their slogan is A World of Information in a few words.-History:...
newspaper declared: "Papel Prensa is an anachronistic holdover from the military dictatorship which should not continue any further into the 21st century. But not this way. It is not only that the government is at least as interested a party when it comes to controlling newsprint — if this control is established on such a mendacious basis, the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration is not so much seeking to own the truth as already the owner of the truth." On same day of its announcement, the government sent the report to the National Congress and the Justice branches for further investigation.
Fibertel
FibertelFibertel
Fibertel is an Argentine Internet service provider. It worked as a stand-alone organization until 2003, when it was merged with Cablevisión, a cable television provider. Cablevisión is part of the Grupo Clarín, thus Fibertel became part of it. Fibertel has over a million clients, and it is the...
, a Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
provider and part of the Clarín group, had its licence revoked in August 2010 by the government arguing that Clarín itself dissolved Fibertel in January 2009 merging the company with Cablevisión which is the TV cable network provider and does not have a licence to provide Internet services by itself. The government gave a 90-day time limit to end operations and move current users to other providers. The case was taken to the courts to prevent Fibertels closure, which would force 10% of the country's Internet users to change to a new service provider or get disconnected.
A huge controversy arose in September 2010 when the Government's Secretary of Communications office published a list of 389 Internet providers that could potentially replace Fibertel. The list, however, was totally outdated and resulted in only 22 companies still operating and only two Telcos with nationwide coverage: Telefónica de Argentina and Telecom Argentina
Telecom Argentina
Telecom Argentina is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires...
.
Ernesto Marinelli from Juzgado Nacional en lo Contencioso Administrativo Federal Nº 1, the National Judge who was to take the case, declared himself in a "conflict of interest", because he was a Fibertel user. At the same time, the different factions in the National Congress were divided on the issue. Pino Solanas of Proyecto Sur Party, for example, proposed that the country should have a new law to deregulate and promote all the communication services instead of regulating a single company.
Ayuí Grande Dam
In September 2010, the government appealed to the Supreme Court against the construction of the Ayuí Grande DamDam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
in the Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
, a venture to flood 8,000 hectares, belonging to Grupo Clarín vice CEO, José Aranda and George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
, in order to export rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. Their appeal claimed that the flooding will produce irreversible environmental damage and violates the Uruguay River Treaty with Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. The project was unanimously rejected by the local community, and was also questioned by environmentalists, claiming that 55 km of river coast would disappear.
International notice
The disputes over Fibertel and Papel Prensa took place nearly at the same time, and generated strong reaction from the international media. El País from Uruguay highlighted the confrontation between government and the Grupo Clarín media concern.Criticism of the Argentine government included an editorial by Mary Anastasia O'Grady from The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
who said that Kirchnerism is "...cracking down on the free press." Editorial comment from Spain's El País notes that Papel Prensa is still full of serious concerns that Kirchnerism is possibly using methods similar to those of dictatorships to keep its power.
Other voices echoed a different view, including editorial comments in El Tiempo from Colombia, declaring: "The government maintains that the company sells the paper to small newspapers at higher prices than those who buy Clarín and La Nación and considered these actions go against the freedom of expression."
In August 2010, United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner declared that Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's administration is closely following the controversy and that concerns about press freedom are taken seriously.