Argentine President Javier Milei announced the closure of the state news agency Télam this Friday in his opening speech to extraordinary sessions before the Legislative Assembly.
“We will close the Télam agency, which has been used as a Kirchnerist propaganda agency in recent decades,” the president said, referring to former President Cristina Kirchner.
The president did not provide any details about the process of closing the media company founded 78 years ago.
At the beginning of February last year, the ultra-liberal government ordered the intervention of all state media for a period of one year in order to “change the organic and functional structure”.
The action included public radio and television, the Télam agency, the educational portal Educ.ar, the Audiovisual Production Pole and the Argentine Audiovisual Bank of Universal Contents (Bacua).
With more than 700 employees, including administrators, journalists and photographers, the Télam agency news service sends more than 500 telegrams every day with nationwide information, about 200 photos, as well as video, radio and social media content.
In 2018, the company went through a traumatic downsizing process, laying off 357 employees, some of whom were later reinstated by court order.
As explained on its website, the news agency is “the only one in the country with a network of correspondents in all Argentine provinces.”