Argentina clamps down on freedom of the press

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has signed into law an act that, essentially, has appropriated media companies operating in the country to the government, placing restrictions on how private companies may operate with regard to what they report and how.

Proponents of the law say it will increase competition in the media industry. Skeptics — and I count myself among them — say it's a move by the government to crack down on the media, which has been critical of the government.

President Kirchner, who, like the wives of Juan Perón before her, was First Lady of Argentina when her husband, Néstor Kirchner, was president. The Kirchners had a problematic relationship with the Argentine media while the husband was president. These problems have continued into the wife's administration, with the recently enacted law being suspect.

Like so many of its Latin American neighbors, Argentina has a troubled history regarding human rights.
The Kirchners, coming from the left wing and opposing the past human rights abuses of previous régimes, had seemed to signal a change in Argentine politics. Mr. Kirchner had been willing to strip former junta members of immunity and try them for war crimes committed during Argentina's so-called Dirty War. Mrs. Kirchner's presidency began at the end of 2007 and was expected to continue the policies of her husband's.

But with this move, the Kirchners have shown that they are willing to bend the rules when free speech makes things inconvenient for them. It's evidenciary of the "big lie" that is leftism in Argentina. Perón was frequently touted as a leftist by socialists in Latin America, only to crack down on opposition in typically authoritarian fashion when things got tough for him. And, for all his lip service to leftist ideals, Perón openly admired the fascist governments that arose in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s.

This is not to say that President Kirchner is a fascist, or even that Perón was. Rather, it is to say that claims of left-wing credentials tend to ring hollow once you begin infringing on the right of the press to criticize you. I'm perfectly aware that many other governments who were self-styled as left wing have in the past and continue in many places (e.g., China, Cuba, North Korea) to violate basic freedoms. But at what point does this oppression begin to signal a betrayal of progressive ideas like freedom of the press. And, once infringements such as these begin, can the parties that violate these rights fairly call themselves progressive anymore?

I think not. The jury is still out on President Kirchner, but her enactment of this legislation is a bad, bad sign.