237 / Newsprint

Newsprint is a big issue right now in Argentina. I am not sure that the issue has yet hit the American press.

It turns out that the two biggest newspapers in the country, La Nación and Clarín, own the company that produces virtually all the newsprint used in Argentina. The company is called Papel Prensa. Besides the newspapers, the Argentine government owns a share of the company, too - but a minority share.

The current President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, wants to take regulatory control over Papel Prensa. The newsprint monopoly is bad, she says. It endangers a free press.

I am betting that you haven't heard anything about this dispute about newsprint, but President Obama has. According to La Nación, the President is "watching closely," and he is likely to be against any effort by the Argentine Government to regulate the newsprint business. Messing with Papel Prensa is bad, he says. It endangers a free press.

Who you going to believe?