Argentina is following Ms Kirchner’s money man, Hugo Chavez, into the loss of freedom. Won’t be the first time the bad guys won out in Argentina, either.

Argentine political culture, however, has become more democratic in the last 30 years. The change was initiated by the rejection of the military’s role in politics following the collapse of the regime in the early 80s. The human rights movement has since been strengthened by the emergence of other types of democratization NGOs that work on everything from elections to women’s rights to public deliberation. An NGO called Periodismo Social, for example, focuses on both public journalism and freedom of the press.

Democratization in Argentina will be a long, hard slog, but the process is underway.

Also of concerns is the portion that would permit the Economy Minister to determine how much newsprint to import, establishing government quotas that have never before existed….

How 20th century of them. The government may be able to control the newsprint but they can’t control the electrons. The government seems to have forgotten about that newfangled invention call the Internet. You don’t need any newsprint to publish online. Of course with the “new anti-terrorism bill that classifies certain “economic crimes,” including certain actions taken by the media, as terrorist acts” the government will be able to punish any publisher who prints anything that the government does not like. It would appear that Argentina has not yet gotten the hang of Democracy.