Telam.com.ar

Telam.com.ar is the news portal of State-owned news agency Télam SE, which belongs to the Federal System of Media and Public Content.

The website provides information 24/7 based on the content created by the agency. Although its content is free, it is necessary to be an agency’s client to have access to full articles, videos and pictures.

Télam is the largest news agency in Argentina and one of the most important agencies in the region. However, it is undergoing a crisis due to the State media asset stripping process promoted by Mauricio Macri’s administration.

Led by Hernán Lombardi, head of the Federal System of Media and Public Content, the crisis exacerbated after the sudden dismissal of 40% of the agency staff (around 357 workers) in 2018.

In a press release, the Government said that Télam was facing a “complicated” financial situation and that the agency staff had doubled during Néstor and Cristina Kirchner’s administrations (2003-2015) to develop “political propaganda.”

The Government explanation’s was proved wrong since, among those fired, there were very experienced workers with over 20 years of seniority. Finally, judicial authorities considered the procedure illegal and ordered that all those fired were re-incorporated to their positions.

Nevertheless, the long conflict brought the agency’s activities to a halt for over 100 days, having permanent effects. Six local correspondent offices and three correspondent offices abroad closed their doors, as their workers were fired. The project Radio Telám, which provided news bulletins and pod casts for radio stations in the interior of Argentina, was canceled. In addition, the agency authorities set part of agency offices in the outskirts of the city of Buenos Aires to separate senior executives, senior editors and heads of department from the agency’s editorial team in order to have more control over content.