Buenos Aires, Argentina — The President barred accredited journalists from entering the government headquarters. He took to social media extensively to insult the country’s news media, calling them “dirty scum claiming to be journalists”. He posted an AI-generated image showing a local TV journalist in an orange prison jumpsuit.
The President in question was not what you might think. This was Argentina’s radical independentist, Javier Miley.
Miley’s decision last week to expel the entire press corps from the Casa Rosada – or the Pink House, the Argentinian equivalent of the White House – marked the latest escalation in a sweeping anti-media campaign that has become as much a hallmark of her tenure as it is of her. ideological allies And fellow anti-mediaus President donald trump.
“This is the height of the government’s contempt for journalism and its value in democracy,” said Fernando Stanich, president of the Argentine Journalism Forum, a professional group.
In a country that has long boasted a free and vibrant news media, rights watchdogs and lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemned the move, calling it an unprecedented attack on the press. Argentine military dictatorship In 1983.
“Argentina is still a democracy, but these are the actions of a dictator,” said Cristina Zahar, Latin America coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, a monitoring group. “A dictator who tries to curtail freedom of the press, who tries to prevent journalists from reporting and keeping society informed about matters of public interest.”
Miley’s spokesman, Javier Lanari, said Thursday that the government had blocked press access “as a precautionary measure” after a local TV channel allegedly aired footage filmed with smart glasses from inside the Casa Rosada without permission.
Todo Noticias, the official in charge of security at the Casa Rosada, was suing the network, accusing it of “illegal espionage,” Lanari said. He did not respond to a request for further comment.
In her program on Sunday, Luciana Geuna, one of Todo Noticias’ journalists, said that she had already informed press officers about her filming plans. Geuna said that in the footage it was easy to see parts of the Casa Rosada that had previously been shown on TV.
But campaign trail in 2023Miley’s brash style And a propensity for provocative language solidified his outsider status, leading to comparisons to Trump and Brazil’s former president jair bolsonaro and helped the former television commentator advance country’s top job on the promise of reduce state spending.
Instead of controlling her rhetoric during her two-year term, Miley has increased her attacks on the media.
According to one, in just four days this month, avid X user Miley wrote 86 posts taunting and insulting journalists. Analyzing his feed Between 2 and 5 April by the leading Argentinian daily La Nación. He recounted 874 such attacks at the time, including a post calling for the press to be declared a terrorist organization and many involving sexual harassment.
Most of his posts about the media include his signature slogan, “We don’t hate journalists enough” and claims that 95% of journalists are criminals. He often bestows epithets ranging from “dirty operators” to “human trash” to specific journalists who criticize his administration.
As her government pulled press credentials from about 60 journalists covering the Casa Rosada on Thursday, Miley angrily posted: “Disgusting scumbags, how about you try to stop the lies?” He has written. “Oh, I forgot, you are a corrupt junkie addicted to advertising money and bribes.”
In his first term, Trump criticized journalists for ” enemy of the people“
Miley has not held a single press conference as president. He prefers to push his message through slogans and AI-generated memes – a tendency he shares with his American counterpart. He rarely grants interviews to established outlets but frequently appears on the radio shows of right-wing influential people.
He has promoted social media provocateurs to government posts and rallied a new generation of digital activists against traditional news media, which he accuses of leaning toward the left.
“When he appoints influential people to work for the presidency, it’s like saying, ‘You journalists don’t matter anymore,'” Zahar said. “Everyone suddenly feels empowered to use stigmatizing discourse against the press.”
Taking inspiration from Trump, who have fought a legal battle Miley has turned to the courts, along with the Associated Press, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC and CBS News, filing defamation suits against at least eight journalists in the past year and encouraging her colleagues to do the same.
“Miley’s followers are extremely fanatical. They have harassed me, betrayed me, dragged me into arbitration,” said Alejandro Alfi, a media reporter for Clarin, Argentina’s largest newspaper, who has investigated the armies of anonymous troll accounts promoting Miley. Alfie now faces four defamation lawsuits filed by close associates of Miley, demanding millions in damages.
“People say, ‘Oh, it’s not real. It’s just social media.’ But when every day someone on Instagram tells you they’ll kill your kids, it’s something else entirely.
Miley also modified an open-records law to limit the scope of publicly available information and, in 2024, shut down Argentina’s state news agency Telam, accusing it of being a propaganda mouthpiece. left-leaning populist opposition. It has since been converted into an advertising agency. Trump leads the cutoff Funding PBS and NPR Last year because he didn’t like the way it reported on conservatives.
Journalists say being insulted and mocked for their work can be risky for the real world – again, something reflected in the relationship between the US media and Trump.
Journalists banned from the Casa Rosada on Thursday said they saw it coming.
Last year, the government restricted media activities inside the building, placing some wings of the Casa Rosada off limits and limiting attendance at news briefings.
This month, authorities blocked six accredited media outlets from accessing the Casa Rosada and the lower house of Congress, accusing the journalists of engaging in Kremlin-backed disinformation. The journalists denied any ties to the Russian government.
Then this week came the lawsuit against two journalists who captured footage using Meta smart glasses.
“This was the perfect excuse to increase the punishment for the entire press corps,” said La Nación political correspondent Jaime Rosemberg, one of 60 accredited journalists banned from the Casa Rosada on Thursday.
The reaction has been swift, with one opposition MLA suing the government over the ban and a dozen other MLAs requesting an immediate meeting with top officials over what they described as an “institutionalized weakening of freedom of expression.”
The ban comes at a difficult time for Miley, whose popularity is now at the lowest point of her presidency, according to Atlassian pollsters.
His drive to finish Argentinian long term inflation has stopped, Unemployment has climbed and the economy has shrunk. corruption cases reminds of scandals plagued Adding to his challenges is the political elite that Miley has vowed to overthrow, with his close aide and chief of staff, Manuel Adorni, now under investigation for misuse of public funds.
Some journalists draw a line between the government’s increasing headaches and the increasing attacks on the messengers of that news.
“This is a very bad moment for the president,” Rosemberg said. “And often the easiest thing to do in that moment, with whatever is closest to your hand, is to blame the press for everything.”
