BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina’s combative president is going head-to-head with one of Latin America’s biggest media groups over a broadcasting reform bill that opponents say is an authoritarian bid to muzzle criticism.
Cristina Fernandez, who has been locked in conflict with farmers since early on in her turbulent presidency, wants to pass the reform bill before she loses her congressional majority when new lawmakers take their seats on Dec. 10.
She says it will open the media and telecommunications sector to more companies, but the bill has been overshadowed by the government’s increasingly bitter showdown with Grupo Clarin, Argentina’s leading media conglomerate.
“The government sees this as the mother of all battles. If it isn’t approved by this Congress, it could be a bigger political loss than they suffered (with the farmers),” said Rosendo Fraga, an Argentine political analyst.
Fernandez, who took office in late 2007, lost control of Congress in a June mid-term election, but her push to pass the media bill before December has dampened speculation she might soften her confrontational style after the electoral loss, and political tensions have flared.
Fernandez’s husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, has criticized Clarin’s coverage of the government, and the president has suggested some media companies are being used by their owners to attack her.
“Freedom of expression can’t become freedom to extort (and) press freedom can’t be confused with freedom for press owners,” she said before sending the bill to Congress.
Several key opposition leaders have come out against the bill, which is expected to be taken up in the lower house of Congress next week.
The bill could pave the way for telecommunications firms to enter the cable television business, and it also aims to give more air time to the public sector and non-profit groups like churches and universities.
The dispute with Grupo Clarin marks a change of opinion by the presidential couple, which had a cozy relationship with the company until farming protests erupted in early 2008 and the group’s news outlets turned against them.
Tensions rose further when the government took over soccer TV broadcast rights after football officials rescinded a contract with a Clarin company last month.
Last week, the head of Argentina’s broadcast regulator vetoed the merger of two Clarin-controlled cable operators in a move company officials suggested was intended as a blow to the group’s businesses.
One of Argentina’s leading companies, Grupo Clarin owns newspapers, television and cable TV channels, along with radio stations and cable and Internet companies.
On Thursday, more than 150 tax inspectors raided Clarin’s main newspaper, calling it a routine inspection. But company officials described it as a “pressure tactic”, a charge the government rejected.
Critics say the media reform bill, which aims to update broadcasting regulations dating from a 1976-83 military dictatorship, will give the government the power to hand out new media licenses at a time when it has repeatedly criticized the media.
“This project has appeared in the middle of a battle between the government and the media and is clearly intended to benefit people close to the government,” said Silvana Giudici, a congresswoman from the opposition Radical party.
The bill will force a few media groups to sell off some of their holdings within a year.
“This bill is unrealistic. There are several articles that violate property rights,” said Daniel Vila, the head of the Uno group, which owns TV and radio stations across the country. Under the proposed bill, Clarin would be prevented from owning both an open-air television station and one on cable, potentially reducing its influence as the country’s dominant media company. Telecommunica-tions companies Telecom Argentina and Spain’s Telefonica, could stand to benefit from the reform by gaining footholds in the potentially lucrative market to offer triple-play packages of cable TV, high-speed Internet and telephone services.
But it is the political motivation behind the initiative by the Kirchners, who have increased state intervention in some sectors of the economy, that will hang over the congressional debate, said Ricardo Rouvier, a political analyst and pollster.
“Kirchner and the government are waging a tough battle with Grupo Clarin, and Clarin isn’t backing down. It’s going to be a battle until the end,” he said.
