Hear
Given the accusations of sexual harassment against the journalist and teacher Pedro Brieger, the University of Buenos Aires advances in the internal investigationThis Wednesday, at 5 p.m., Brieger did not show up for his last class of Sociology of the Middle East at the University of Buenos Aires.. However, her adjunct professor Enrique Herszkowich and the authorities of the Faculty of Social Sciences did so: Rodrigo Salgado, director of the Sociology program; Sandra Guimenez, academic secretary; and Malena Magnasco, head of the Gender and Human Rights Secretariat of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
In front of the students—and as absorbed as they were—the directors announced that as a result of the harassment accusations against Brieger, the Faculty began to arbitrate the corresponding institutional mechanisms. As this media learned, Until last week there was not a single complaint against Brieger in the UBA. The testimonies that have come to light in recent days have reportedly occurred within the journalistic field (in interviews or coverage) and at the Taller Escuela Agencia (TEA) tertiary education school.
In the classroom, the Gender Secretary explained how the protocol works and highlighted the importance of reporting and the support spaces that exist at the university. In addition, the authorities reassured the students about the course and the institutional stance regarding cases of harassment: “The university takes note of the complaints, stands in solidarity with the victims and activates the protocol.”
One of the public accusations was made by Journalist Leticia Martinez who works for Public TV, El Destape and Futurock and who, according to her account, was harassed by Brieger in 2010 within the editorial office of the magazine Faces and masks. His testimony, for LA NACIÓN.
—What happened to Pedro Brieger?
—A mutual acquaintance introduced him to me. He was a reference for me and I once ran into him at a work event and asked him if he had work for me. He told me that he could help him by sending him news from Syria, something I did for free for a while. That was it. One day I went to Faces and masks to interview him (he had a radio program for a portal) and there In the newsroom while I was interviewing him, he took out his penis and started masturbating.. I told him ‘Please, no’. He didn’t care about anything. There was a security man nearby and he didn’t care. It was horrible. I was so shocked Because of the situation, I even went back on the subway with him… Afterwards I felt bad, distressed. I felt guilty, responsible for not having known how to put a stop to it.. He was a role model. I admired him and believed that if I spoke out I might lose work.
—Did you come across him again?
—I avoided any situation where I could cross paths. Things in life: today I am part of Internacionales on Public TV in the same newscast and the same role that he had.
—How do you feel now that you dared to give your testimony?
—What we see is that there is a pattern of behavior. He liked to show off and be at risk. with girls of more or less the same age, in their twenties, who were at the beginning of their professional careers. It scares me to think how fear, shame, manipulation, among other things, paralyzed us for so long, but here we are.. It was essential to feel accompanied to be able to tell it.
Journalist Laura Di Marco, columnist for LA NACION, also joined the accusations: “The same thing happened to me. I was a girl who came out of a scholarship at the newspaper Clarín and worked at the magazine Are. It was 1993. Pedro Brieger collaborated with that magazine. I told what had happened to my friends, some colleagues. It happened many years ago. There was no talk of sexual harassment. Installing that theme was a great work of the feminist movement.”
“For me, the important thing is that we are in a time when the truth is coming to light and we can start talking about these things, despite the fear. In a profession as sexist as journalism – especially political and economic journalism – the Brieger case is not an isolated event,” Di Marco highlighted in dialogue with LA NACIÓN.
According to sources accessed by this newspaper, Brieger would not appear to take the final exams at the UBA. The evaluation of his subject involves the delivery of a monograph that the students will give to the assistant professor of the department.
The subject of Middle East Sociology —which Brieger has taught for at least 20 years— is optional and is taught only in the first semester every year, so this year, as the usual planning contemplates, Your last name is not part of the academic staff of the second semester.
It is expected that the teacher’s condition and the measures to be followed will be resolved in the coming months. “The situation of the professor involved is being evaluated, who, according to the academic planning, will not teach classes in the next semester at the Faculty”states the official statement from the Faculty of Social Sciences.
In addition, Brieger directs Nodal, a news portal from Latin America and the Caribbean that is still in operation at the moment. As LA NACIÓN learned, as a result of the accusations of sexual harassment against him, the journalist will no longer be part of Radio brand—which is broadcast on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Radio La Red AM 910. The news was confirmed by the host of the program, Eduardo Aliverti, who did not hesitate to confirm to this newspaper: “I made the decision”.
THE NATION He tried to contact Pedro Brieger on several occasions, but at the time of going to press he had not received a response from the journalist.
