MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner: some reporters schizophrenic

“If I announce public works, they say that I am campaigning and they say that we announce them and don't do them... some friends who engage in journalism must calm down, because that is really schizophrenic,” Kirchner said when announcing a home-building programme in San Juan province.

"Will we do nothing until October because otherwise it will appear as if everything is done for the elections campaign? Must we close Government House until October?" he asked rhetorically.

Argentine President N. Kirchner has repeatedly had confrontation with critical journalists whom he has described as sensationalist.

Separately, he said that some sectors "from within and outside" are placing "all kinds of stumbling blocks... and conditioning governability." He gave no names but he is locked in a dispute with Buenos Aires province strongman Eduardo Duhalde which has pushed the Peronist party to the brink of a schism.

Duhalde helped Kirchner become President in 2003 but then the distance between them widened as Kirchner sought to bypass the party's machinery to build his own power base.