Hear
This week the Government found itself in the middle of a new controversy with the media. This time it was due to a resolution issued by the Human Capital portfolio, in charge of Sandra Pettovelloin which a 1946 law was revived and the registration of the different levels of journalistic work at a national level. The resolution was withdrawn a few hours later, in view of the reactions that They strained the relationship between the Government and the presswhich has been causing controversy in recent days.
“If you are a professional journalist, you can obtain the National Registration of Journalists from the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security”read the post, which referred to the site Argentina.gob.ar, in which it established that obtaining registration was “mandatory,” and was aimed at a wide universe made up of “professional journalists who regularly, for remuneration pecuniary, the tasks that are their own in daily publications, or periodicals and news agencies.
The Government’s decision quickly led to condemnation by the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA), which condemned and deplored “the decision of the Ministry of Human Capital of the Nation to reintroduce the mandatory registration of journalists, an obsolete practice that since 1985 has been considered by Advisory Opinion 5 of the Court.” Shortly after, the official post was taken down.
The Government pointed out that in 1946 the law of the Journalist Statutewhich “came to regulate the work of the journalist who until then was not and within the law was the implementation of the license.” Along the same lines, they clarified that “what Human Capital brought out was just a reminder, because the license renewals are made every two years.” And they completed: “The Ministry of Labor is responsible for providing the credentials that accredit the status of a professional journalist and keeping it updated.”.
In dialogue with THE NATIONthe Government Press Secretary, Eduardo Serenellini, considered that it was a “involuntary mistake” by the libertarian administration, since “Registration is not necessary to fulfill a mandatory professional role as a journalist”.
Serenellini assured that after the publication he spoke with the head of FOPEA, Paula Moreno, to whom he sought to clarify the situation. “It wasn’t a bad intention. At the time that it was discussed among the topics that we have, if you want to have your professional registration, you have to do it through the corresponding channel, but it was not a ‘go ahead and do it’ or else, you cannot fulfill your role as a professional journalist. ”.
Regarding his conversation with Moreno, Serenellini said: “I clearly told him it was not obligatory. He understood it.” When asked why he had resigned, “it was poorly communicated, it was a confusion,” he insisted.
The episode took place just when The Government faces questions about the lack of certain accreditations for journalists in the Casa Rosada, while FOPEA has been making different appeals about its relationship with the press. Regarding the lack of accreditation of the Radio Jai journalist Silvia MarketSerenellini said: “It is an issue that other people are in charge of and that I don’t know about, But we have spoken with Silvia here (in her office) and the doors are open.”
The official also referred to the episode that he experienced youtuber and libertarian journalist Mariano Perez, assaulted in the vicinity of Congress on the eve of the debate on the Ley Bases. “They are social misfits who took two young people and carried them away by the neck. What would have happened if it had happened to any journalist?” Serenellini asked.
The reference was in reference to the fact that FOPEA did not speak out after the attack, which prompted a message from the president himself. Javier Mileiwho reposted a message from the former presidential advisor Antonio Aracre. “FOPEA is a disgrace,” wrote the president. Meanwhile, Aracre’s tweet mentioned: “The president of FOPEA says that she does not see the need to come out in defense of the streamer attacked because He is a ‘militant’ before being a journalist. It seems to me that there will be a very limited universe of potential defenders in Argentina, at least from 678 onwards.”
THE NATION
