Roberto Navarro, Argentina's top rated news anchor, forced out by alleged government pressure

[sandensea]

Last edited Wed Sep 20, 2017, 09:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Cable news anchor Roberto Navarro, host of Argentina's top-rated current events program Economía Política, was fired yesterday. Executives at Channel 5, according to Navarro, admitted receiving pressure from the government to force his removal.

Navarro had reportedly drawn ire from the authorities as a result of a number of investigative exposés into alleged corruption and other wrongdoing by the two year-old Mauricio Macri administration, of whose trickle-down policies he's been critical.

His weeknight show had been the first to reveal Macri scandals such as:

·The dollar futures case (in which officials and relatives profited from a 40% devaluation a week after taking office)
·Th partnership between Macri and disgraced contractors Lázaro Báez and Brazil's Odebrecht
·Alleged vote buying to secure congressional approval for a $9 billion payout to vulture funds and other holdout bondholders in March 2016
·Numerous undeclared Macri family offshore shell companies (beyond those uncovered by the Panama Papers leaks)
·Plans for the secret purchase of $2.5 billion in U.S. military equipment
·And the attempted unauthorized sale of the ARSAT-3 satellite to Hughes Electronics this July.

Navarro, 57, has no intention of leaving investigative journalism however.

"We have important news to publish in (online journal) El Destape that concern Vice President Gabriela Michetti's role in laundering money from state banks through her foundation for use in campaign finance," he said in a radio interview today.

He revealed that another top Macri ally, congressional candidate Gladys González, solicited a bribe through WhatsApp. "I wanted to air it and was told I couldn't mention her," he said.

Channel 5's parent company, the Indalo Group, is currently facing 10 billion pesos ($570 million) in back taxes and penalties from its 'Oil' service station chain. Navarro alleges that the group's news division director, Mariano Frutos, informed him that if he was not dismissed, he (Frutos) would "go to jail."

"A government minister informed me on August 13 that I would be removed, that it had been decided, and that they expected more sympathetic journalists," Navarro said. "Economía Política, which I produce, was then limited as to its content - even the headlines."

"This is happening in the context of (indigenous activist) Milagro Sala's arbitrary imprisonment and the disappearance of Santiago Maldonado - of a democracy that has become precarious."

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicaymedios.com.ar%2Fnota%2F9306%2Froberto_navarro_fue_el_gobierno_quien_exigio_mi_salida%2F

Argentine news anchor Roberto Navarro in one of his last broadcasts. Behind him a reference to activist Santiago Maldonado, who disappeared on August 1.

[Sneederbunk]

1. Dan Rather comes to mind.

[sandensea]

2. He does indeed.

The only difference was that whereas this man Navarro was the target of a Putin-style arm-wringing, what Rove did to Rather was a lot more sophisticated.

The little bastard managed to bad-jacket not only America's senior news anchor; but the whole Air Guard deadbeat story itself.

It's a painful memory, really. Having a couple of mid-century Royal typewriters myself, I noticed at the time that the "letter" had been typed on Microsoft Word.

I e-mailed CBS Evening News right away to warn them it couldn't possibly be a 1972 type-written letter - but to no avail (of course, they must have gotten thousands of them).

Having said that, I'm almost glad the Shrub was re-elected (so to speak). Had Kerry won, he would have had to deal with the sub-prime/derivatives debacle instead, which by '04/'05 was already very much in the cards.