Conflict between Kirchnerism and the media

The Argentine Governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had several conflicts with major media groups. Kirchner accused the Clarín Group, La Nación, Perfil, and related media of having promoted their overthrow.

The president and most of her cabinet have increasingly avoided press conferences and interviews with independent media, relying instead on Twitter, press statements, and public service announcements to communicate with the populace. Large media groups, particularly the Clarín Group, in turn oppose anti-trust laws enacted during her administration.

Critics maintain that new legislation passed by the Congress will be selectively applied against dissenting media and journalists, while fostering a proliferation of supportive media. Supporters maintain in turn that media consolidation has become the greater threat to freedom of the press in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America, and that recent measures such those abolishing media laws dating from the country's last dictatorship and rescinding criminal penalties for defamation and libel of the president, promote freedom of expression.

Other press advocacy groups, such as the Argentine Journalist Forum (FOPEA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists, observed that the dispute polarized news media and public opinion to the point that accuracy and objectivity in the media itself had become jeopardized.

The conflict started in 2008, during a period in which the government was in open confrontation with the agricultural sector over a propose hike in oilseed export taxes. The Clarín Group, led by CEO Héctor Magnetto, strongly supported the sector, and their newspapers published articles that were considered favorable to the "ruralists" or chacareros. At least one writer who worked for one of the conglomerate's dailies (Enrique Lacolla of La Voz del Interior) was dismissed for submitting an op ed opposing the landowners' lockout of April 2008.

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