Argentina
Media bias tied to advertising dollarPosted Nov 1 2007
Leading up to Oct. 28 legislative elections and the presidential election of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, previously a senator and first lady, The Commitee to Protect Journatlists issued a speical report that questioned the lack of regulation over government advertising spending in Argentina.
CPJ criticized the free daily El Periodico Austral in Santa Cruz, the home of the former president Nestor Kirchner, for serving as the government's “mega phone,” and for promoting the campaign fo the current president.
Nestor Kirchner's former chauffer and advisor, Rudy Ulloa Igor, owns El Periodico Austral along with a radio station, two television stations and two production companies. In 2006, Ulloa's media holdings received 3 million pesos (US$960,000) from the goverment, CPJ reported. “Without state advertising it is almost impossible to survive,” Daniel Gatti told CPJ. Gatti is a radio host on FM Abril. FM Abril is among the Santa Cruz competitors for government media spending
However in one of Kirchner's first interview after the election, the president accused daily papers in Santa Cruz of combative coverage of her campaign. A prime example of the government's impact on media through advertising spending occurred in 2002. The provincial government of Neuquen province withdrew all advertising fro the province's Rio Negro after the daily paper implicated the governor of Neuquen in a bribery scandal.
The paper had received an injunction from the Supreme Court that forced the province to resume partial advertising, and in September of this year, Argentina's Supreme Court made landmark legislation in September by ruling that the government had indirectly censored Rio Negro.