Argentine Journalists March to Protest Dismissals

Thousands of journalists and dozens of media workers' unions are on the streets of Buenos Aires, protesting massive layoffs. They are marching to Argentina's Labor Ministry where they are demanding that media companies end the dismissals and begin to negotiate salary increases. They are also calling on the government to move to prevent the closure of newspapers and television stations.

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According to a study conducted by the Buenos Aires Press Union, more than 1,000 media workers have lost their jobs in the city since December 2015. The Press Workers’ Federation, one of the umbrella unions uniting media workers, reports that more than 2,500 media employees have lost their jobs across the country over the same period.

According to the unions, the government has not taken action to prevent media companies from shutting down, such as in the case of the Grupo 23 media conglomerate, which owned the newspapers Tiempo Argentino and El Argentino, a pair of magazines and several radio stations. The government of Mauricio Macri has favored media giants like the Clarin group by changing legislation to improve their status in the local media market.