Noticias Argentinas news agency facing financial difficulties

Noticias Argentinas this week filed for “crisis prevention” proceedings, indicating the cable news agency is facing severe financial difficulties.

The procedure serves for cases where companies, compelled by an economic crisis, decide to take actions that will affect their employees and will see negotiations open with state mediation.

Workers at the agency were informed of the news via email from the authorities in charge of Noticias Argentinas, which is owned by Dia

rio Popular, the country’s third-largest newspaper by circulation.

“Part of our salaries will be paid through a subsidy from the Labour Ministry,” tweeted one of its journalists on Wednesday. “The agency has always gone through difficult situations, but never like this. This is very sad.”

Noticias Argentinas, a private news agency, was founded in 1973. A staff of 50 people, including journalists, photographers and administrative assistants, work at the agency’s offices in Buenos Aires.

The development is the latest in a run of ominous signs for Argentine news agencies. In recent years the DyN news agency has shuttered its doors, while around 300 workers were laid off at the state news service Telám, which has been inactive for two months amid labour tensions.