| Telenoticiosa Americana | |
 | |
 | |
 Télam headquarters in Buenos Aires | |
| News agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 14, 1945 |
| Dissolved | July 2024; 16 months ago (July 2024)[1] |
| Jurisdiction | Argentina |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires |
| Employees | 750[2] |
| ParentNews agency | Secretary of Media and Public Communication |
| Website | telam.com.ar |
Télam (an acronym for "Telenoticiosa Americana")[3] was anArgentine government-ran nationalnews agency founded in 1945 by then Secretary of LaborJuan Perón[4] during the presidency ofEdelmiro Julián Farrell.
The service was suspended in March 2024 by the government of PresidentJavier Milei.[5] It provided news and information to about 300 subscribers, including government entities and national and international media, which is operated as astate enterprise. Milei alleged that the agency operated as a "Kirchnerism propaganda spreader". It was also stated that Télam "had losses forAR$20 billion (someUS dollar 23 million)".[6] At the moment of the closure, Télam had 750 employees.[2]
In July 2024, Télam was officially dissolved, being renamed "Agencia de Publicidad del Estado S.A.".[1]
Télam was established as "Telenoticiosa Americana" (American Telenews) on April 14, 1945, by an initiative of Vice PresidentJuan Domingo Perón, with the purpose to compete withUS agencies such asUnited Press International and theAssociated Press. At its inception it started as apublic-private partnership, in ajoint venture between government and privatecapital. Its firstdirector was Gerónimo Jutronich, who was tasked with forming a team ofjournalists, some of which came from ANDI, another state agency created in 1944.[3]
The new agency started disseminating information on October 12, 1945, but not until 1948 was able to form a national-coverage network, after signing the first contracts with journalists from the country's interior. These acted as correspondents for the headquarters inBuenos Aires bytelegram ortelephone. The normal growth process of the company was interrupted by themilitary coup overthrowing Perón in 1955.[7]
Télam's financial situation was not strong enough to allow it to function without subsidies. The new authorities did not at first provide funding, and wages were in arrears for a few months.[3]
The company started to stabilize on July 30, 1959, when Bernabé Villegas, Adolfo Garino and Blas Calaro, among others, reorganized the company asTélam Sociedad Anónima, Periodística, Radiofónica, Cinematográfica, Comercial, Inmobiliaria y Financiera and changed its legal constitution from alimited liability company to anincorporated company (S.A.). Apresidentialdecree signed byArturo Frondizi authorized the new private company to work under the new legal framework.[3]
During the 1960s, Télam increased its clientele to include the four TV networks in Buenos Aires as well as major city newspapers such asClarín. News started to be transmitted bytelex, which allowed them to reach more cities around the country in less time.[3]
The government ofJosé María Guido, appointed and controlled by the military after the March 29, 1962, coup against Frondizi, closed the agency on May 30, 1963, alleging it was "transmitting false information that by its nature and reach, subverts the public order and the public calm, when the government is firm in its purpose of eliminating any factor capable of disrupting the electoral process by applying the powers it has during a state of unrest".[3]
Télam became a fully government owned company under thede facto government of GeneralJuan Carlos Onganía, on June 24, 1968, after the state bought its outstanding shares through theSecretaría de Difusión y Turismo (Ministry of Tourism and Information). At the same time, a new legal framework decreed that all advertisement by state entities and companies be handled through the agency. This decision allowed the company to generate a considerable amount of new internal resources.[8]
The agency did not come out unscathed from theNational Reorganization Process in power between 1976 and 1983; besides thecensorship to which it was subjected under the dictatorship, during the subsequent, democratically elected government ofRaúl Alfonsín, the disappearance of an important part of Télam's journalistic and photographic archives came to light. The leading local private news agencies,Noticias Argentinas andDiarios y Noticias, publicly asked for the closing of Télam in 1984, and in 1992, PresidentCarlos Menem ordered the company be put intoreceivership, to beliquidated in two years. He rescinded the order in 1996 and replaced it with a new decree advanced by theEconomy Minister,Domingo Cavallo, which left Télam without one of its main sources of income by dismantling the official government advertisementmonopoly.[8]
Télam continued nonetheless to function as an advertising agency, though it was Menem's government intention to remove that function completely. His successor, PresidentFernando de la Rúa, again announced the closure of the advertisement area and the sale of the agency's headquarters, in 2000, but this was never implemented. The state's news media outlets were merged in 2001, and the agency joined public television (Canal 7) and public radio (LRA Radio Nacional) within theServicio Nacional de Medios Públicos (National Service of Public Media). The change was rescinded in 2002, however, and Télam regained its autonomy.[9]
Finally the company was a government-owned entity under the control of theSecretaría de Comunicación Pública (Communications Ministry), which appoints its board of directors. Its budget was part of the federal State Budget, although the agency also generated its own income through its advertising business. There were about 450 personnel at Télam in 2005, with about half assigned to the news department. The news agency also published editions inEnglish andMandarin Chinese.[10]
The agency organized the third News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) in 2010.[11]
On 1 March 2024 PresidentJavier Milei announced toCongress his intent to close Télam down, claiming that in recent years it has been used as "aKirchnerist propaganda agency",[12] and that it has a deficit of 20,000 millions of pesos that the state should not finance amid the ongoing economic crisis.[13] On 3 March the agency was shut down, although it was not clear if it was a temporary or permanent closure.[5]
In May 2024, the government ordered all the Télam subsidiary agencies in Argentina to be closed. At the same time, Chamber V of the Federal Administrative Litigation Chamber rejected the appeal presented by the Argentine Federation of Press Workers (FATPREN) to avoid the closure of Télam.[14]
In June 2024, it was announced that the government was considering to reopen Télam. The agency's staff would be reduced to only 100 employees.[15] In July 2024, the government officialised the dissolution of Télam by Decree n° 548, creating the "Agencia de Publicidad del Estado Sociedad Anónima Unipersonal" (State Advertising Agency Unipersonal S.A. sole proprietorship).[1] The new agency will be supervised by theChief of the Cabinet of Ministers.[16]
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34°36′51″S58°22′24″W / 34.61417°S 58.37333°W /-34.61417; -58.37333
