Latin America & the Caribbean
Public Media Worldwide
National Networks
1 national TV channel
1 regional TV channel
49 radio stations
1 international radio station
Online
Online news
TV and radio livestreams
Media archive
Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA)
Radio | Television | Online
50
regional RTA
radio stations
10%
of Argentines
visit RTA websites
for news per week
69th
RSF world press
freedom ranking
for Argentina (2021)
Overview
Updated: August 2021
Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado (RTA) is a state-owned company established in 2009, which operates three public broadcasters – Televisión Pública, Canal 12, and Radio Nacional – as well as a historical archive of public media. RTA’s website states that “State Media such as Argentine Public Television and National Radio will always be at the service of all citizens without asking anything in return.”
TV Pública is a national television broadcaster with eight studios and 900 employees. It began broadcasting in 1951, during Juan Perón’s first presidential term. RTA’s other television station is Canal 12, which broadcasts regionally from the city of Trenque Lauquen. Radio Nacional consists of 49 national and regional radio stations as well as RAE Argentina al Mundo (RAE Argentina to the World), an international radio station. Much of TV Pública and Radio Nacional’s media and news content is available online via their respective web portals, where live streaming is also possible.
RTA’s archive (AHRTA) was created in 2013 in order “to guarantee the permanence and accessibility of its audiovisual, sound and photographic heritage.” The archive offers the public an online catalogue of public media content and supports the two public broadcasters in producing new programmes.
Citing censorship by judicial means and polarisation between state- and privately-owned media, RSF has ranked Argentina 69th in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index. RSF has also expressed concern, via its Media Ownership Monitor, over media concentration in Argentina.
In detail
Click on the headings below for more information
Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA) is state-owned.
RTA is administrated by the Secretariate of Media and Public Communications. Juan Francisco Meritello has been Secretary of Media and Public Communication since his appointment in 2019.
The 2009 law which established the RTA states that its executive board should consist of seven appointed members. The executive branch of national government appoints the president and one director. Another three directors are proposed by the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Monitoring of Audiovisual Communication and selected by the largest three parliamentary minorities. The Federal Council of Audiovisual Communication proposes the final two directors, one of whom must be an academic with relevant expertise. Board members serve four-year terms, which can be renewed once.
According to the decree, the board organises, directs, and administers RTA. This includes appointing and dismissing personnel and preparing action plans and annual budgets that are presented to the executive of the national government. RTA is overseen by the Supervisory Committee which is appointed by an annual assembly.
Rosario Lufrano has been Executive Director of RTA since January 2020. She had been the head of Televisión Pública from 2006 until 2008. The current Executive Director of Televisión Pública, since April 2021, is Claudio Martínez. Alejandro Pont Lezica has been the director of Radio Nacional since 2019.
A 2015 decree established the National Communications Entity (ENACOM), which acts as RTA’s broadcasting regulator. The head of the regulator is Claudio Ambrosini. ENACOM’s guidelines include ensuring digital inclusion and promoting transparency within media management. However, it has been suggested that the government exerts political influence on ENACOM, as four of the regulator’s seven board members are appointed by the executive branch of the national government.
RTA is primarily funded from the national budget. The National Congress approves the funds to be allocated to RTA, after this has been determined by the executive branch of government. RTA received 48.7 million pesos (approximately £360,000) from the state budget in the first quarter of 2021.
According to the Audio-visual Communications Law, the remainder of RTA’s funding is derived from a tax on holders of audio-visual communication services, the commercialisation of audio-visual content production, sponsorship, advertising, legacies, donations, and events.
RTA’s broadcast area covers the whole of Argentina. However, nationally, only 10% of Argentines use the public broadcasters’ online news weekly and just 35% trust TV Publica as a source of news. Although overall trust in news media in Argentina is only one percent higher, Reuters Institute’s latest Digital News Report concludes that RTA’s public broadcasting “plays a minor role and does not serve as a trusted source”. Meanwhile, those who dominate include four private conglomerates who, according to the Media Ownership Monitor, “combine 46.25% of the national audience”.
Internationally, Radio Nacional’s radio station, RAE Argentina Al Mundo, broadcasts online and via shortwave in 8 languages. RTA has also signed a number of cooperative agreements with broadcasters in other countries.
Some concerns exist regarding the politicisation and transparency of RTA, since a financial scandal and allegations of political bias led to a series of resignations within RTA and at the head of Televisión Pública in 2021. In May, the president of RTA also strongly criticised the opposition party and the government has been accused of blocking the approval of recent appointments to RTA for political reasons.
RTA is making efforts to be more diverse and accessible. Recently, RTA created a Directorate of Gender and Diversity and in July 2021, RTA’s president, Rosario Lufrano, expressed RTA’s commitment to the inclusion of indigenous languages to make sure indigenous voices are heard. Gender equity and trans-representation quotas will also be introduced to public broadcasting, having been approved by parliament in June 2021.
Read more: Argentina: new law set to enhance public media gender equity
http://www.rta-se.com.ar/
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021/argentina
https://rsf.org/en/argentinahttps://www.radionacional.com.ar/lufrano-en-la-oposicion-hay-odio-y-una-desesperacion-por-volver-al-poder/
https://elzonal.com.ar/a-nota/29491/claudio-martinez-buscamos-desarrollar-una-television-de-calidad-innovadora-creativa
https://argentina.mom-rsf.org/en/media/detail/outlet/television-publica-argentina/
Crean la Dirección de Género y Diversidad de Radio y Televisión Argentina
https://www.clarin.com/sociedad/rosario-lufrano-presento-renuncia-direccion-ejecutiva-canal-oficial_0_rycWPK2Cptg.html
https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202107/561599-rosario-lufrano-rta-pueblos-originarios.html
https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/ricd/article/view/5974
https://www.economia.gob.ar/onp/documentos/fisica_inversion/2021/1ertrim21.pdf
https://twitter.com/RAEArgentinahttps://www.archivorta.com.ar/objetivo-y-funciones/https://argentina.mom-rsf.org/en/findings/concentration/
http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/155000-159999/158649/norma.htmhttps://www.enacom.gob.ar/institucionales_p33
https://argentina.mom-rsf.org/en/findings/media-regulations/
https://www.mom-rsf.org/en/countries/argentina/
https://www.airedesantafe.com.ar/sociedad/radio-y-television-publica-argentina-firmo-convenios-sus-pares-mexico-y-peru-n162815
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/doble-comando-renuncias-disputas-y-dinero-la-dura-interna-en-la-tv-publica-despues-del-escandalo-nid24052021/
https://www.lavoz.com.ar/politica/leonardo-flores-renuncio-a-la-tv-publica-tras-una-semana-en-el-cargo/
https://www.clarin.com/politica/gobierno-bloquea-designacion-directores-oposicion-tv-publica_0_jMGxsumPa.html
https://ladiaria.com.uy/feminismos/articulo/2021/6/los-medios-de-argentina-tendran-equidad-de-genero-y-cupo-trans/
National network
2 national TV channels
24 radio stations
Online/Digital Services
Online news
TV and radio livestreams
Podcasts
Medios Públicos Uruguay
Television | Radio | Online
18th
Uruguay's position
in RSF's 2021 World
Press Freedom Index
Medios Públicos Uruguay consists of the television channels, Canal 5 and Canal 8, and four radio stations – Radio Uruguay, Radio Cultura, Radio Babel and Radio Clásica. They share the Medios Públicos portal, which provides news articles and podcasts as well as radio livestreaming and links to livestreams of the two television channels.
Canal 5, previously called TNU (Televisión Nacional de Uruguay), is the main public media channel. Canal 5 Noticias is a news programme broadcast three times every weekday on Canal 5. Canal 8, the other public media channel, does not currently produce its own programming, but the head of the managing body of public media has expressed the intention “to turn it into a regional channel with some of its own programming”. While Radio Clásica and Radio Babel broadcast music, Radio Uruguay is primarily concerned with spoken, information-based, journalistic programming. Radio Cultura, previously known as Emisora del Sur, is dedicated to national music and cultural journalism.
Uruguay is ranked 18th in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.