Milei decrees intervention in state media companies

The Argentine government issued a decree on Monday (5.Feb.2024) that imposes intervention in state-owned communication companies. The measure paves the way for possible privatizations. Here's the full text published in official diaryin Spanish (PDF – 138 KB).

In the decree, President Javier Milei's government highlights that public companies are “in a situation of public emergency in economic, financial, fiscal, administrative, social security, tariff, health and social matters” since December 20, 2023. And that, “for the purposes of greater efficiency in the functioning of the public sector, a profound reorganization of public companies is necessary”, which must occur during the intervention.

The companies impacted by the decree are:

• Argentine Radio and Television;
• the Télam news agency;
• Contenidos Públicos, which controls the Encuentro, DeporTV and Pakapaka channels, and the Contar platform;
• the Acua Mayor and Acua Federal channels;
• the educational portal Educ.ar;
• the administration of the Audiovisual Production Hub; It is
• the collection of Bacua (Argentine Universal Content Audiovisual Bank).

Lawyer Diego Martín Chaher was appointed intervenor for Radio and TV Argentina and supervisor of the process in the other companies. He worked at Grupo América, which controls media outlets in Argentina, for two decades. Former deputy Diego Sebastián Marias will be the deputy speaker.

According to the text, it will be up to the interveners to “evaluate and modify the fund administration regime, expanding or reducing budget parts, or approving a new regime”. They will also be able to carry out works, purchase goods and hire and fire employees.

The intervention is valid for 1 year and can be renewed for the same period. The measure fulfills campaign promises from Milei, who was elected with the program he called “chainsaw” to cut public spending and called public media outlets “propaganda mechanisms”.

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