One of the victims who reported the journalist Pedro Brieger for sexual harassment indicated this Wednesday that There would be more cases in addition to the five who met last weekend. “We are the tip of the iceberg”said the woman, adding that the alleged harassment dates back three decades.
Is about Leticia Martinez, who initially decided to give his testimony anonymously, but changed his mind after feeling “strong support.” “Five girls are the tip of the iceberg of the number of women who were victims of PBwith cases that date back to the mid-’90s,” said the journalist through her X account (formerly Twitter).
Journalist Pedro Brieger is accused of alleged cases of sexual harassment of colleagues
Authoritarians don’t like this.
The practice of professional and critical journalism is a fundamental pillar of democracy. That is why it bothers those who believe they are the owners of the truth.
At the beginning of the chain of messages, Martínez revealed that it is “one of the cases that counts [Alejandro] Alfie from PB.” “I asked him to do it anonymously because I was just scared (also ashamed)“, he explained about the reasons for his initial anonymity.
“Seeing that there are so many of us (the number of cases is incredible) and feeling strong support, took away my fear and that is why I am here telling it,” he remarked. “It scares me to think how fear, shame, manipulation, among other things, paralyzed us for so longbut here we are,” he added.
“I am infinitely grateful to Argentine Journalists for this support and to the girls who shared their story. To the beautiful Futurock, and to my dear colleagues who helped me in this process (Tv Pública, El Destape and de la vida)”, he concluded his publication.
The alleged cases of sexual harassment
The controversy arose as a result of posts on social networks by the journalist Alejandro Alfiewho shared five testimonies from women who indicated that Brieger harassed them in different ways. These stories allegedly occurred between 1994 and 2019. The complainants are journalists, a student of his and a secretary. None of them filed a complaint in court.
The complaints include a former journalist from Telam, Cecilia Guardati; Agustina Kämpfer; Martínez (who originally decided to remain anonymous); a gender columnist for her own radio program and a secretary at the University of Belgrano (UB). After the dissemination of these events, the group Periodistas Argentinas echoed the complaints.
According to Alfie, The Guardati case took place in 2008, when he went to cover the tour of then-president Cristina Kirchner in Tunisia. Because Brieger had not been able to attend the president’s talk after a dinner, he asked his colleague if he could play the audio of that meeting, to which the victim agreed.
“When I returned from the conference with Cristina Kirchner, I received another message from Brieger, asking me If I could bring the audio to his room and tell him what Cristina had said at that meeting. On this type of trip, the room is transformed into an office, so I never imagined what would happen later there.“, continues his story.
Gabriel Bermúdez denied the crimes of sexual harassment against him
“When I got to his room, I saw that he had the door ajar. So, I entered and I find Brieger naked, lying on the back of the bed, talking to me and covering himself with a sheet, masturbating while talking to me. I left immediately and never spoke to him again. Imagine that they had sent him to cover Cristina Kirchner’s tour, for the Public TVand he did this,” the woman completed, according to Alfie.
However, the journalist did not make the complaint because she was afraid. Another case cited was that of Agustina Kämpfer, who said in 2010 she suffered harassment from Brieger when she was studying at TEA (Agency School Workshop).
Asked by Alfie, Brieger denied the accusations against him. “What you propose in no way happened. My life was, is and will be public, I am a journalist”, was, according to Alfie, what he answered. In that back and forth he also assured her that he has no contact with the aforementioned women and stressed that these were unfounded accusations.
The accused journalist told him he would take legal action if the accusations persist. “If they force you to publish it anyway, do whatever you want because the truth always prevails“Brieger told him.
Meanwhile, Alfie revealed on his social networks this Tuesday that the accused will no longer be on the air or in C5N nor in Radio 10: “Pedro Brieger was taken off the air on C5N and Radio 10, due to accusations of sexual harassment. The Grupo Indalo authorities told him to take a long vacation, while they resolve his situation. They tell me that ‘in the short and medium term’ Brieger will not return to C5N or Radio 10“, wrote.
MB/Gi
