BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine President Javier Milei last week barred the entire accredited press corps from the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace that serves as Argentina’s equivalent of the White House, blocking roughly 60 reporters from the government headquarters in an anti-media escalation without precedent since the country’s return to democracy more than four decades ago.
The expulsion, which took effect Thursday, represents the culmination of a two-year campaign against independent journalism that has drawn comparisons to the media-hostility of U.S. President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and that has now drawn condemnation from press freedom watchdogs, opposition lawmakers, and the Argentine Catholic Church.
Milei’s spokesperson, Javier Lanari, said the government had blocked press access “as a preventative measure” after the Todo Noticias network aired footage filmed with Meta smart glasses from inside the palace. Authorities in charge of security at the Casa Rosada are suing the network, accusing it of “illegal espionage.” The journalists involved, however, said they had notified press officers of their filming plans in advance and that the footage captured only easily accessible areas of the palace that had been shown on television before.
Fernando Stanich, president of the Argentine Journalism Forum, a professional group, called the ban “the culmination of the government’s contempt for journalism and its value in a democracy.”
The move extends a pattern that began during Milei’s 2023 presidential campaign, when his brash style and provocative language — comparing him to Trump and Bolsonaro — helped propel the former television commentator to the nation’s top office on a pledge to slash state spending. Far from moderating his rhetoric two years into his tenure, Milei has escalated his attacks on the media.
Over just four days earlier this month, Milei, an avid user of the social media platform X, wrote 86 posts taunting and insulting journalists, according to an analysis of his feed by the prominent Argentine daily La Nación. He re-shared 874 such attacks in that period, including one post asking that the press be designated a terrorist organization and many laced with sexual innuendo. Most of his posts about the media include his signature slogan, “We don’t hate journalists enough,” and the repeated assertion that 95 percent of journalists are criminals.
As his government pulled press credentials on Thursday, Milei posted on X: “Disgusting scum, how about you try stopping the lies? Oh I forgot, you lot are corrupt junkies hooked on advertising bucks and bribes.” His posting continued into the following week, with more than two dozen re-shares before noon Monday.
Cristina Zahar, Latin America coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, described the move in stark terms. “Argentina is still a democracy, but these are the actions of an autocrat,” she said. “An autocrat who tries to curtail press freedoms, who tries to prevent journalists from reporting and keeping society informed about public interest matters.”
The Argentine Catholic Church weighed in Monday, stressing the need to reject divisive rhetoric and noting that the press “had operated virtually uninterrupted in the Casa Rosada since 1940.” An opposition lawmaker filed suit against the government, and more than a dozen legislators requested an urgent meeting with officials over what they described as an “institutional undermining of freedom of expression.”
Milei has not held a single press conference as president. He prefers to push his message through slogans, AI-generated memes, and appearances on radio shows hosted by right-wing influencers — a communications strategy that mirrors Trump’s approach to bypassing traditional media gatekeepers. He has promoted social media provocateurs to government positions and mobilized a new generation of digital activists to rail against outlets he accuses of leaning left.
“When he hires influencers to work at the presidency, it’s like saying, ‘You journalists don’t matter anymore,’” Zahar said. “Everyone suddenly feels empowered to use stigmatizing discourse against the press.”
Taking a cue from Trump, who has waged legal battles with The Associated Press, The New York Times, and major broadcast networks, Milei has turned to the courts, filing defamation lawsuits against at least eight journalists in the last year and encouraging his allies to do the same. Alejandro Alfie, a media reporter for Clarín, Argentina’s largest newspaper, who has investigated the armies of anonymous troll accounts boosting Milei, now faces four defamation lawsuits filed by Milei’s close allies seeking millions in damages.
“Milei’s followers are extremely fanatical. They’ve harassed me, doxxed me, dragged me into mediation,” Alfie said. “People say, ‘Oh, it’s not real. It’s just social media.’ But when you have someone telling you on Instagram every day that they will kill your children, it is something else entirely.”
The press ban was preceded by escalating restrictions. Last year, the government constrained media movements within the Casa Rosada, designating certain wings off limits and capping attendance at news briefings. Earlier this month, authorities barred six accredited outlets from accessing the palace and the lower house of Congress, accusing the journalists of involvement in Kremlin-backed disinformation — claims the reporters denied. Milei also modified an open-records law to limit the scope of publicly available information and, in 2024, shut down Argentina’s state news agency Télam, which has since been transformed into an advertising agency.
Jaime Rosemberg, a political correspondent for La Nación among the 60 journalists still blocked from the Casa Rosada, said the smart-glasses footage provided “the perfect excuse to extend the punishment to the entire press corps.”
The ban arrives at a fraught moment for Milei’s presidency. His approval rating, as measured by the AtlasIntel pollster, has fallen to its lowest level. His drive to eliminate Argentina’s chronic inflation has stalled, unemployment has climbed, and the economy has contracted. Corruption cases reminiscent of the scandals that plagued the political establishment Milei vowed to overthrow have added to his challenges, with his close ally and chief of staff, Manuel Adorni, now under investigation for the misuse of public funds.
Some journalists draw a direct line between the government’s mounting difficulties and its escalating attacks on those who report them.
“It’s a very bad moment for the president,” Rosemberg said. “And often the easiest thing to do in that moment, what you have closest at hand, is to blame the press for everything.”