ARGENTINA

WHEREAS
in October Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld a decision of the Córdoba Court of Appeals (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Córdoba, TSJ) that had found in favor of Córdoba newspaper La Voz del Interior in a libel case, applying the doctrine of “actual malice”

WHEREAS
in 1977 the newspaper echoed a television news investigation and, citing data obtained from a court record, alluded to an alleged link between the murder of former radical senator Regino Maders and persons associated with the “video poker” business of businessman Miguel Angel Caruso, who felt insulted and filed the complaint

WHEREAS
in its decision the Córdoba Court of Appeals applied the doctrine of “actual malice” from United States law, which establishes that, in a complaint against a journalist or media outlet, the complainant must show that the published information was false, and was published in the knowledge that it was false

WHEREAS
the Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of the responsible editor, Luis Eduardo Remonda, who at that time was the newspaper’s news editor

WHEREAS
the court concluded in its decision that the provincial appeals court had correctly applied the law when it ruled that the terms the complainant considered libelous were not written by La Voz del Interior, but taken from testimony in the court record which was quoted in the article

WHEREAS
Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declares that “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press; the exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people”

THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
to contact the Argentine Supreme Court justices to express its satisfaction at the proper application of this doctrine, which strengthens the ability of journalists and media outlets to report the news.