O Brazil in fact began, in March, collaboration with the newspaper Argentinian timea national publication maintained by a workers’ cooperative in Argentina since 2016. In addition to a printed Sunday newspaper and a daily news website, Tiempo maintains a radio program and audiovisual and social media productions.
With the partnership, the Brazil in fact starts publishing articles produced by the Argentine newspaper, which shares the popular bias and editorial principles of in-depth and quality journalism. In the same sense, articles produced in Brazil will also be published in Argentina. In addition to exchanging content, the partnership also provides for collaboration on special reports combining the experience of each vehicle and geographic presence in the countries.
Malena Winer, current president of Tiempo Argentino, highlights the importance of partnership in the context of cuts by Javier Milei’s ultraliberal government. “The greatest interest of every self-managed medium is to be able to continue growing. In this sense, the alliance with a Brazilian vehicle fulfills this objective, makes us proud and allows us to think about expanding circulation to Brazilian readers, through Brazil in fact. These are two very important countries for the region and with antagonistic political processes at this historical moment.”
With journalism made by workers for workers, the editorial line of Time reflects the needs of the class, monitors their conflicts and analyzes, from this perspective, an agenda committed to human rights, discussions of gender, the environment and the popular, solidarity and cooperative economy – in addition to culture and sports.
In view of the Milei government, Winer highlights the importance of dialogue with the newspaper’s audience, identified with these themes and points out the challenges that arise, mainly in the economic area, given the cuts in government public advertisements in the media, announced by the new president. “Economic challenges clearly appear. We are the largest cooperative in Argentina, with 85 jobs.”
A cooperative is born
Created in 2010, the newspaper Argentinian time was taken over by the workers’ cooperative in April 2016, following the abandonment of Group 23, belonging to Sergio Polk and Matías Garfunkel, at the beginning of Maurício Macri’s government.
Workers’ salaries had stopped being paid in 2015, as had the rent for the office where the newsroom was located. The workers then took their demands to the Ministry of Labor, which began to act as a mediator in the conflict and summoned the company’s administrators to inform them that, in the event of non-compliance with their labor obligations, their positions would become vacant.
“We remained in the building because we knew that abandoning the newsroom would clearly lead to us losing our workspace, but also these fundamental tools to be able to carry it forward. And so we stayed until, on April 19, 2016, the cooperative was consolidated through an election”, says Malena Winer.
March 24th, a milestone
March 24, 2016, which marked 50 years since the coup that established the last civil and military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983), was a fundamental date for the consolidation of the Cooperativa de Trabajo Por Más Tiempo Limitada, which maintains the newspaper, through the sale of a special edition for that date.
The printing was financed by another recovered company, also maintained in a cooperative, Gráfica Patricios, which provided paper, inks and labor for printing the special edition, distributed on the streets.
“We sold all these copies and, with this proceeds, we were able to pay what we owed to the printer and finance three editions of the newspaper. Between March 24th and April 19th we managed to consolidate the technical and administrative structure, so that on April 24th 2016 we took to the streets with our first Sunday print as a cooperative”, says Winer.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
