The war between Milei and the press reaches court

Many Argentine presidents have had a bad relationship with the press, but the ultraliberal Javier Milei started stronger than any other. In the first four months of his administration, the media have been among the favorite targets of the darts that he launches against anyone who questions his government. He has called them “enveloped,” “bought,” “liars,” “corrupt,” and “extortionists,” among other disqualifying names. His anger is sometimes directed against the entire press and others against journalists whom he points out by name and surname or with derogatory nicknames. This week, two of them—the popular radio and television presenter Jorge Lanata and the founder of Editorial Perfil, Jorge Fontevecchia—have decided to defend themselves in court. Lanata denounced the Argentine president on Thursday for slander and insults. A day later, Fontevecchia doubled down and announced four complaints against Milei.

The fight with Lanata had to do with the participation of the Israeli ambassador to Argentina, Eyal Sela, in the Cabinet meeting urgently called by Milei after bringing forward his return to the country due to Iran’s attack on Israel. The President’s office reported Sela’s presence at the meeting and released a photograph in which he shared a table with the president and the ministers.

“It seems good to me that he is concerned about the Israel issue, in any case it is an issue of his government’s foreign policy and of concern to him. What doesn’t seem right to me is that a foreign ambassador, whether from Israel or Belgian, is in a cabinet meeting in Argentina,” Lanata criticized on Radio Miter.

Milei responded to him through social networks. “Jorgito, don’t lie. At the meeting, the ambassador told Israel’s official vision and then left, thus beginning the formal meeting of the CC (crisis committee). Criticisms yes. Not lies. Does telling the truth require about?” said the libertarian leader.

Lanata read the tweet and announced that she would sue him. “It seems to me that he cannot say that one receives envelopes, unless he has proof, be it the president of the United Nations or the president of Argentina,” he stressed. “We will meet in court with the president and we will see if he can sustain it,” he added one day before appearing before the court. The complaint fell in the court of Ariel Lijo, the judge whom Milei nominated to complete the Supreme Court.

For his part, Fontevecchia will accuse him of slander, damages and prejudice, for “maliciously affecting the development of a private company” and for discrimination against public companies in official advertising. Weeks ago, following an opinion in which the journalist questioned whether Milei was the correct remedy to make the changes that Argentina needs, the president accused him through X (formerly Twitter) of being “with regimen withdrawal syndrome” and to go “in coup mode to try to live off the State’s money again.” The last straw was the president’s last statements against him, when he celebrated that the newspaper Perfil was on its way to bankruptcy.

“The military dictatorship could not break us, it could not break us [el expresidente Carlos] Menem with his 30 trials, the murder of José Luis Cabezas; He could not break us by putting zero official Néstor Kirchner advertising; You won’t be able to either,” Fontevecchia responded.

According to the Argentine Journalism Forum, in the last month the Argentine president was the protagonist of 53% of the attacks recorded against Argentine press workers, “all of them through the use of stigmatizing speech.” His victims were journalists from different ideological positions.

Milei’s confrontation with the press dates back to 2021, the year in which the paleolibertarian economist made the leap into politics as a candidate for deputy for La Libertad Avanza. He denounced five journalists from the América TV channel for “defamatory rallies” who compared his speech with that of Nazism after what he said in an interview. “We are superior morally, aesthetically, and that hurts them. The shitty lefties are losing the cultural battle,” were Milei’s questioned words.

After taking office as president, on December 10, Javier Milei announced the cessation of official advertising in the media for one year, even for key awareness campaigns such as dengue fever, which this year has recorded the worst outbreak in history in the country, with almost 200 deaths and more than 260,000 cases. For Milei, the journalists’ criticism responds to this reason and no other.

In the long list of those who have been attacked by the Argentine head of state in recent weeks, Jorge Fernández Díaz stands out — “he writes nonsense” —, María O’Donnell — “liar” —, Joaquín Morales Sola — “violent and aggressive,” Víctor Hugo Morales — “despicable” — and María Laura Santillán — “is an accomplice [de los senadores que se autoduplicaron el sueldo]—.

His words against Fernández Díaz crossed the borders of Argentina and reached Spain, from where the writer Arturo Pérez Reverte entered the fight. “Not even the previous ones dared. “It is the first time in Argentina that a government president publicly insults a novelist and journalist,” said Pérez Reverte. “Right-wing populists, without distinction of nationality, are as disastrous and imbeciles as those on the left,” stated the Spanish novelist and academic in a tweet with a clipping of Milei’s verbal aggression.

Lanata denounces that the president’s inner circle justifies their attacks with the argument that “Milei is like that” and asks that journalism unite to stop him. For Lanata, the president has to realize that he is no longer a television panelist but rather “manages a country.”

Subscribe here to the Morning Express América newsletter and receive all the key information on current events in the region.

_