This is what democracy looks like: Argentina's free press!

Judy Lynn brought this article to my attention, in a comment at
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2810111

Here is the full article:
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Argentina_Exposes_Conservative_Bias_of_US_Media_4415.html

It almost makes you cry to read of a truly free press.

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Argentina Exposes Conservative Bias of US Media
by Randy Shaw‚ Apr. 17‚ 2007

"Imagine a country where activist protests are the lead stories on local and national mainstream media broadcasts. A place where social movements, rather than elected officials, determine what’s news. A land that ignores the father of Anne Nicole-Smith’s baby, but whose news outlets instead prioritize stories that impact people’s lives. Argentina is such a country, and my recent visit showed me how the US media is far more conservative than progressives realize. No corporate owned media outlet in the United States offers the balanced news coverage routinely found in the Argentina media, whose willingness to provide activist and labor viewpoints leaves its US counterparts sounding like Fox News.

"In the eighteen days I spent in Argentina, Buenos Aires experienced five mass protests and the equivalent of a general strike. These activist events dominated the television news, which supplemented their pictures with lengthy interviews with activists.

"In the United States, even the huge anti-war protests prior to the Iraq war invariably included only 30-second interviews with activists. Some longer interviews were included in the immigration protests of 2006, but no corporate-owned news outlet gave activists five minutes or more to discuss their agenda.

"In Argentina, interviews with activists dominate the news. The Argentina media gives social movements the attention they deserve---and its positive coverage promotes progressive causes and encourages collective action.

"When I arrived in Buenos Aires on March 24, the headline in the pro-business English language Buenos Aires Herald was “Argentina tells US ‘butt out.’” This was in response to a US State Department staffer criticizing the Argentine government for allowing Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez to hold a large anti-Bush rally in Buenos Aires. I saw enough anti-Bush signs and spray-painted slogans in Argentina and Uruguay to conclude that our President is even less popular in those nations than here.

"That same day, nationwide rallies occurred in honor of the 31st Anniversary of the initial protests by the Mothers of the Disappeared (the group whose children had been seized by Argentina’s then military dictatorship). Television news shows provided live coverage for what seemed like hours of rallies in Buenos Aires, and of President Kirchner’s fiery speech denouncing Argentina’s former military regime in Cordoba.

"Yes, it did feel strange to hear a President demanding an end to, rather than encouraging, human rights abuses...."

(MORE)

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Argentina_Exposes_Conservative_Bias_of_US_Media_4415.html

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Some background (by me):

A couple of years ago, Argentina's economy collapsed as a result of the ruinous practices of the World Bank/IMF, which act as the tool of global corporate predators. Rich fascist elites acquire the loans, rip off the money and leave the poor to pay the debt. The World Bank/IMF consider social programs--education, medical care, land reform--to be lootable resources. They work in combination with "free trade" (global corporate piracy) to rip open a third world country's resources and labor to rape and ruin. Argentina's social fabric was nearly torn asunder by these first world country financial practices. Argentina defaulted on about $10 billion in loans, sending financial shock waves throughout South America and the world.

Finally, the people of Argentina had had it. A coalition of the poor and middle class went round with tiny hammers and broke every bank ATM display window in the country, in protest. Three governments later--in quick succession--they finally got a good leftist government (that of Nestor Kirchner) to pledge to get them out of World Bank/IMF debt and never to get into it again. Enter Venezuela. Venezuela, flush with oil profits, and led by the charismatic Hugo Chavez and in the midst of creating the Bolivarian revolution--with its principles Latin American self-determination and regional cooperation--helped to bail Argentina out World Bank/IMF debt, on easy terms. Argentina is now well on its way to a great recovery, with all indicators up. Venezuela thus created a healthy trading partner for Brazil, Venezuela and others. Next came the formal creation of the Bank of the South, the Latin Americans' alternative to the World Bank and US corporate exploitation, which promises to help Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay out of debt, and headed toward social justice and prosperity.

It is important to know this background in reading about the free press in Argentina. After the sharks were done with their economy, the Argentine people were forced to reconstruct their society from the bottom up. They had to recreate businesses (which are now often coops) and community structures and products and food supplies and a political life, out of nothing--nothing but their sheer guts and determination. They had to find new ways to organize and new ways to think about government, politics and the state. The PEOPLE put Argentina back together. And their free press was and remains a vital component of their re-creation of their country. In Venezuela, they have created a democracy in spite of corporate news monopolies--a corporate press that is so bad that it openly supported a violent fascist military coop in 2002. Word of mouth, community groups, and, after it was put back on the air, at the end of the coup, a public TV station, filled the gap. Political discussion is quite lively in Venezuela, but it is in spite of the corporate media, which touts a relentless rightwing line, as it does here.

Democracy can happen in either circumstance. But Argentina's lively press makes one long for socially and politically responsible news coverage, and for the release of OUR pentup creative and democratic energies in a broad spectrum, nationwide political discussion. The article gives you an idea of what that could be like. We get a taste of it here in the open forum of DU. Imagine our whole country freely expressing social and political ideas, in every newspaper, in every news and opinion TV and radio broadcast!

kick

Their 2007 report (for 2006 activities) ranks Argentina 76th (about the same as The United Arab Emirates and Senegal). The list is here: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19381

The U.S. is tied for 53rd. Finland, Iceland, Ireland and The Netherlands are 1-2-3-4

"The other surprise, along with Bolivia’s good position (16th), was the slipping of Brazil (to 75th place) and Argentina (to 76th). One journalist was killed in Brazil over the past year and physical attacks on local media are still numerous. Relations between Argentina’s national media and the presidency are still very bad and cutting off state subsidies is no longer the only way used to cow media outlets. Suspensions and dismissal of journalists are sometimes the result of direct pressure by politicians. The atmosphere is still tense in Peru (113th) and in Venezuela (115th), where the consequences of the “media war” between supporters of opponents of President Hugo Chávez persist."

WorldAudit.org ranks Argentina 65th for press freedom: http://www.worldaudit.org/democracy.htm

check the archives here. There was a big scandal a year or two ago about its funding and a pretty detalied case was made about how its funding promoted an pro-business agenda. IIRC, the bio of the guy who runs it was clearly pro-business.

NT