The chainsaw-wielding Argentine president Javier Milei has consolidated eighteen government ministries into nine, fired 5,000 government workers, devalued the peso near market rates, and introduced economic reforms to overhaul the faltering economy after a series of devastating financial crises.
The latest fat Milei has trimmed from the bloated government's books is the largest and most prestigious news agency in Argentina, Telam. The state-run media outlet has served as a mouthpiece of "propaganda" for previous progressive administrations.
On Monday morning, Telam's website was shut down. The current message on the media outlet's website reads: "Page under reconstruction. The page you are trying to view is under reconstruction."
The eight-decade news organization, with over 800 staff, is the latest casualty of Milei's drive to shake up the prior corrupt progressive government. He told lawmakers last Friday about his plans to shutter the media outlet as part of a wave of reforms targeting public bodies that he warns are "covert propaganda ministry."
"We will close the news agency Télam, which has been used as a Kirchnerist propaganda agency for the last decades," Milei told lawmakers, referring to former president Cristina Kirchner.
And, of course, US legacy media outlets were unhappy about Milei's move.
Reuters cited the Buenos Aires Press Union, which wrote on X:
"It is a blow against democracy and freedom of expression, and that is why we are going to defend it."
The libertarian and self-described "anarcho-capitalist" understands the government shouldn't have a monopoly on the so-called 'free press'. The president is also ridding the government of dangerous 'collectivist experiments' such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
