On Monday, Argentina’s government, officially, closed state news agency Telam and re-branding it into a state advertising agency.
Founded in 1945 and had more than 700 employees, the agency “will cease to operate as it was originally created... as a news agency” and take on its new functions, according to officials.
Telam will now be re-branded to be the State Advertising Agency (APE), in charge of “the development, production, marketing and distribution of national and/or international advertising material.”
Telam’s operations were already suspended in March by the government, saying that it was suffering from losses.
On the other hand, The Buenos Aires press union and agency workers described the government’s actions as an “attack on freedom of expression.”
They said: “We are continuing our fight to defend jobs and the social role of public media that this government intends to destroy."
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