Agencia Nacional de Noticias (Télam)

Télam is Argentina’s national news agency. Established in 1945 as Telenoticiosa Americana (Télam), the agency back then had mixed ownership, including private and state capital, and was trying to offer an alternative to the US agencies Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). Today, Télam is a state-run agency.


Media assets

News agency: Télam

State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)


Ownership and governance

Télam is subordinated to the Ministry of Media and Public Communication of the Argentinian government, an institution which is in turn subordinated to the Chief Cabinet of Ministers. The appointment of Télam’s board of directors (the main governing structure of the agency) is made by the government. Its current director, Bernarda Llorente, was appointed through a decree adopted by the government of Alberto Fernández in December 2019. That continued the practice of changing the top management at Télam in line with the government change, a proof of political interference in the agency’s affairs.

Source of funding and budget

Télam’s budget for 2023 totaled ARS 15.5bn (US$ 44.3m), a jump from two years earlier when it totalled ARS 3.6bn (US$ 36m), yet the increase was less dramatic in US dollars given the inflation and exchange rate fluctuations. In the past, the agency sold advertising and also generated funding from paying subscribers, but following a crisis in 2018 that led to the dismissal of 40% of the agency’s staff during the Macri administration, the agency has relied mostly on public funds.

Editorial independence

Télam has operated for years under a social status that does not give it guarantees of independence. The document, included in the decree regulating the agency, gives the government definitive powers over the agency’s director.

During the rule of the former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Télam was criticized for its militant and propagandist line in favor of the president. Later, under President Mauricio Macri, the agency was referred to as a propaganda agency, a reason used by the Macri’s government as a pretext to slash the agency’s staff. Interventions by the government to control the agency’s editorial content have been a constant pattern. Today, Télam is heavily under government control, it never criticizes the government, being instead favorable to the current President Fernández and critical of the former President (Macri). In general, the editorial agenda of Télam favorably highlights left-wing points of view across Latin America.

No domestic statute and no independent assessment or oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of Télam were identified.

August 2023