22 - What's happening to Argentina's public media?

from Media Uncovered · host Public Media Alliance

On 1 March, Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, stood up in Congress and announced the closure of Télam, the country's national news agency. Come Monday morning, Télam's headquarters were bordered up and guarded by police. No workers were allowed in. So why is Argentina's public media sector being targeted? What has led to the closure of the news agency putting 700 jobs at risk, as well as further threats to privatise the national TV and radio broadcasters as well? In this episode, we explore the history of the public media sector across Latin American, and specifically in Argentina, as we analyse what has brought us to this moment now. And we examine what impact might the closure of public media mean for the country's broader news ecosystem. Presenter: Harry Lock. Guests: Dr Rodrigo Gomez (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa), Tomás Eliaschev, (Télam & SiPreBA), Natali Schejtman (University of Torcuato Di Tella). Music: Lucas Thompson, Rachel Still & Tom Brazier. SFX: Somos Télam & Pixabay.

What this episode covers

On 1 March, Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, stood up in Congress and announced the closure of Télam, the country’s national news agency. Come Monday morning, Télam’s headquarters were bordered up and guarded by police. No workers were allowed in. So why is Argentina’s public media sector being targeted? What has led to the closure of the news agency, amid further threats to privatise the national TV and radio broadcasters? In this episode, we explore the turbulent history of the public media sector across Latin American. Specifically in Argentina, we analyse what has brought us to this current moment. We examine what impact might the closure of public media mean for the country’s broader news ecosystem. And we discuss what needs to happen next to protect and bolster public media for the future. Presenter: Harry Lock. Guests: Dr Rodrigo Gomez (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa), Tomás Eliaschev, (Télam & SiPreBA), Natali Schejtman (University of Torcuato Di Tella). Music: Lucas Thompson, Rachel Still & Tom Brazier. SFX: Somos Télam & Pixabay.