The Milei administration has weakened local media and left hundreds of journalists without their former roles.
Two years ago, far-right Argentine President Javier Milei dissolved the state news agency Telam. Since then, Argentine society has become less informed, according to Bernarda Llorente, the agency’s last president.
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The state-owned company, which had 794 employees, 28 bureaus across Argentina and six foreign bureaus, would have marked its 80th anniversary on April 14, 2025, had Milei not shut down one of Latin America’s most established and influential news agencies.
Milei took office in December 2023. On March 1, 2024, he delivered his first address to Congress, announcing a series of unprecedented spending cuts, including the closure of Telam. The following day, he shut the agency’s buildings, and on July 1 issued a decree formally dissolving it.
That decision has left many news outlets “in a terminal state because content has been impoverished and news agendas have shrunk,” Llorente said, adding that “many regional, cooperative, mid-sized and digital media outlets are struggling to survive without Telam’s content.”
“This government has pushed the media into an almost terminal crisis. Society is less informed and worse informed,” she said, recalling that one of Telam’s missions was to sustain the flow of news across a country heavily centralized in Buenos Aires, where vast distances and the high cost of news production make it difficult for regional media outlets to gather information.
Trabajadores y trabajadores de APESA (exTelam) concentraron frente a la sede del organismo para reclamar por los salarios adeudados y los puestos de trabajo.#Milei #Prensa #Trabajadores #Pobreza #Despidos #Telam #Argentina #Estado #Gobierno @sipreba pic.twitter.com/vcc5nAqgeA
— Canal Abierto (@canalabiertoar) May 26, 2026
The text reads, “Workers from APESA (formerly Telam) gathered in front of the agency’s headquarters to demand back pay and job security.”
The Traumatic Closure of Telam
The day after announcing Telam’s closure, Milei deployed security forces, surrounded the agency’s offices and prevented employees from entering. Workers then set up a protest camp outside the building.
The protest lasted four months, until the winter cold intensified, said Andrea Delfino, a representative of the Buenos Aires Press Union (Sipreba).
Of Telam’s 794 employees, about 220 chose to remain with the new company created by the Argentine government under the name State Advertising Agency (APE). They currently work fixed hours and perform assignments for the public radio and television networks, with salaries frozen since 2024 in a country where inflation exceeded 100% in less than a year.
“Many colleagues, because they needed to increase their income, accepted voluntary severance,” explained Delfino, the former business editor who worked at Telam for more than 30 years.
Delfino was one of the most visible figures during the lengthy protest camp and recalled watching as “Human Resources set up desks to process voluntary severance packages,” describing weeks filled with uncertainty and disbelief.
One of the nearly 600 employees who accepted the so-called voluntary severance package was Ignacio Ortiz, an economic journalist specializing in energy.
“The most traumatic part is that on March 1 we were at Telam covering the event that marked the end of the agency, and the next day it was empty. We couldn’t get in for months,” he said.
As the protest gradually lost momentum, more employees accepted voluntary severance, even though the compensation offered fell short of what they were legally entitled to receive.
“I did it because I didn’t see a way forward and opportunities came up in the private sector. But it was very different for those who stayed and have seen their purchasing power deteriorate. They’ve been left like outcasts, with no work to do,” Ortiz said.
In his view, those who stayed had many different reasons: “from those who were close to retirement to those who understood how difficult it would be to find formal employment with health insurance and pension benefits.” Others remained because they are convinced the agency will reopen once Argentina has a new government, as is the case with Andrea Delfino.
When Pres Milei swept to power in Argentina, he promised to end corruption. Forget Milei’s rhetoric. The reality is his top aide, Manuel Adorni, resigned after he admitted hiding $500,000 from tax authorities and made suspicious BTC investments.
ARGENTINA = BURIED IN CORRUPTION. pic.twitter.com/fRIMcgeI7Y
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) June 29, 2026
Eighty Years of History
In 1945, the government of Juan Domingo Peron founded Telenoticiosa Americana. It was privatized by Arturo Frondizi after the 1958 coup and renamed Telam. The company returned to state ownership in 1968 during the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Ongania.
Several Argentine presidents attempted to shut down Telam, but employees always prevented it. The first such attempt was made by Carlos Menem in 1996, followed by Fernando de la Rua in 2000, and later by Mauricio Macri, who laid off half of the agency’s workforce between 2015 and 2019.
During the presidency of Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023), journalist Bernarda Llorente led an all-female management team that implemented a modernization plan, restored lost jobs, expanded the agency’s presence throughout the country and launched new news products. Among other initiatives, she created a documentation center preserving Argentina’s history through photographs and documents.
When Llorente realized Telam was about to be shut down, she made three copies of the agency’s website content and placed them in the custody of the National Congress, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires and the Legislature of Buenos Aires Province.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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