Página/12 is an Argentine newspaper. During the presidencies of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner it has become a propaganda tool for the government. Having an editorial line favourable to a certain government does not make an unreliable source: the problem is that they give priority to advance their political views, even when that means distorting information, concealing information (even with self-censorship), using slander against politicians that oppose the government, etc.
- The government benefits the aligned press with huge ammounts of money from state advertisments. Página 12 received 33.9 millions of pesos, the 26.5 of the total ammount of money invested in all the media (see here). In contrast, the government tries to push the non-aligned press to bankrupcy, by pressuring the standard advertisments to stay away from those newspapers (see the WSJ article next).
- As described by the Wall Street Journal here, when Jorge Bergoglio (who was so far against the government) was appointed as Pope Francis, Página 12 started a defamation campaign against him, linking him to alleges crimes during the dirty war. Their lead journalist, Horacio Verbitsky, was a member of the Montoneros guerrilla, a band that used terrorist tactics in the 1970s in a failed attempt to establish a communist dictatorship in the country. The WSJ points that this is not limited to the pope, the newspaper has a routine of making similar defamations against anyone who does not endorse the Kirchner's authoritarianism.
- In line with this, Página 12 published in the front page an alleged photo of Bergoglio giving the sacramental bread to dictator Jorge Rafael Videla (see here). Actually, that photo has another priest, and it was taken a pair of decades later, as detailed here.
- Eventually, Cristina Kirchner made a copernical shift towards the Pope, suddenly treating him as a saint beyond criticism. In line with that shift, Página 12 removed several articles by Verbitsky from the Página 12 web page (see here).
- Journalist Julio Nudler wrote an editorial in 2004, denouncing a corruption case that involved the chief of cabinet of ministers Alberto Fernández and the head of the Sindicatura General de la Nación, Moroni. The newspaper used self-censorship, and refused to publish his editorial (see here for the editorial, retrieved by another newspaper).
- The newspaper published a comic strip mocking victims of the holocaust. Even the Simon Wiesenthal Center had to call them on the outrage, forcing them to make apologies for it (see here
- Jorge Lanata, who established the newspaper a pair of decades ago, is no longer part of its staff. Even he rejects the current newspaper's credibility (see here), and calls them the "anti-journalism".
- Cristina Kirchner made a speech in the 25º anniversary of the newspaper. She said that "there is a true cultural battle. We will wage it on all fields, and Página 12 as well". (see here). Translated: Página 12 is indeed used by the government as a propaganda tool to impose their ideas.
- Some weeks before the 2011 elections, the newspaper published that one of the candidates of the rival party was the son of a colonel that commited human rights violations during the dirty war (see here). He was actually the son of someone with a name similar to the aforementioned colonel (see here).
- The major Mauricio Macri, who is against the Kirchners, vetoed a law that allowed abortion. Página 12 published a controversial front page, with his face and the words "Violador serial" in big fonts (see here). The smaller subtitles then clarify that they talk about alleged repeated violations of women rights. Still, in Spanish language, the title may be easily misunderstood as "serial rapist".
- It is not a major newspaper. According to here, they are not among the top ten of the most sold newspapers. According to here, they sell just the 17th part of the sales of Clarín, the highest sold newspaper.