Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has issued a statement, warning of “escalating media repression” against journalists covering peaceful protests in Argentina.
RSF says protests in Argentina “are becoming the scene of widespread repression,” with reporters being targeted by armed forces. The organization claims that public security actors are “deliberately obstructing journalist coverage” through the use of violence.
This comes after several incidences of journalists being injured at the weekly demonstrations which have been organized by retirees protesting pension cuts.
In March, photojournalist Pablo Grillo was seriously injured and hospitalised while documenting an earlier pensioners’ protest. He was struck in the forehead by a tear gas canister, and spent more than a month in intensive care.
Read more: Javier Milei directs ire at Argentina’s media: “We don’t hate journalists enough”
On May 21, freelance photographer Mariana Nedelcu was injured and her equipment damaged after being pushed to the ground by police officers. That same day, photographer Tomás Cuesta was beaten by police and arrested, before being released after several hours. Journalist Pablo Corso sustained an injury from a rubber bullet. Cameraman Diego Pérez Mendoza, reporter Ayelén Berdinas, and cameraman Cristian Mourazos all suffered tear gas directly to the face. Additionally, RSF says that journalists Lula Álvarez and Nicolás Munafó were “assaulted by members of the security forces.”
On May 28, photojournalist Antonio Becerra was injured by tear gas while covering the pensioners’ protest.
RSF claims that there has been a “pattern of violence against journalists” since President Javier Milei took office, and that reporting on the pensioners’ weekly protests “has been repressed with increasing violence.”
Argentina fell 40 places in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, dropping from 26th to 66th in one year. RSF, which is responsible for the ranking, cited “insults, defamation, and threats” from Milei’s government towards journalists critical of his administration.
Last week, Argentine newspaper La Nación revealed that the country’s State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) had approved a National Intelligence Plan (PIN) which would allow it to collect information on individuals who “manipulate public opinion” during electoral processes, propagate “disinformation,” or “erode” trust in civil servants.
The SIDE would also be allowed to monitor “actors” who generate or could potentially generate a “loss of confidence” in the country’s “economic policies.” Who these “actors” were exactly was not clarified; while there was no explicit reference to journalists, La Nación speculated that the new plan could “open the door to targeting [political] opponents, journalists, and economists.”
The government has since rejected what it described as “journalistic versions” of the objectives of the PIN, clarifying that SIDE will not be “persecuting” political opponents or journalists.
Milei has repeatedly stated that “we don’t hate journalists enough.”
In a recent survey conducted by Perfil, 62.8% of respondents considered Milei’s criticisms of journalism to be an “attack on press freedom.” Nearly 67% described Milei’s insults and aggressive language towards journalists as “serious,” while 64.2% agreed that Milei’s government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
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