ARGENTINA III
WHEREAS
important media outlets have been involved in several court cases
WHEREAS
the newspaper La Nación was raided on May 29 under an order issued
by federal judge María Romilda Servini de Cubría, who was investigating
a news report on alleged tax evasion and money laundering by some of its shareholders
WHEREAS
La Nación claimed that ever since it began to renegotiate its debt
for the installation of a new printing facility, its publishing company had
been targeted in a demonstrative smear campaign.
WHEREAS
the Argentine press has firmly emphasized the brazen political motives behind
this raid
WHEREAS
in another case that has revealed questionable actions in the judiciary, the
case against Ernestina Herrera de Noble, editor of the newspaper Clarín,
for alleged irregularities in the adoption of her children was finally dismissed
WHEREAS
Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: “Prior censorship,
restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports,
forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free
flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists
directly contradict freedom of the press”
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE IAPA RESOLVES
to address the Argentine judiciary and its highest body, the Supreme Court,
to express the deep concern of the press in the Americas over the actions
of certain judges that constitute serious procedural flaws and the lack of
independence in carrying out their duties.