MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sixty international media representatives will report on the Falklands’ referendum

Argentine academic Beatriz Sarlo is also arriving next Saturday

The Falklands March 10/11 referendum on the political future of the Islands has attracted a surprising amount of interest from the world press with sixty television, newspaper and radio journalists arriving primarily on next Saturday’s LAN weekly flight to the Islands.

Groups from Chile, USA, Colombia, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, the UK, Panama, Brazil and Japan will fill up hotel and bed & breakfast accommodation, with a small number staying in privately owned houses.

Public Relations and Media Manager for the Falklands Government, FIG, Darren Christie told Penguin News: “Visiting press are being managed by myself and Sharon Jaffray in the PR and Media Office. We are doing our best to minimise any disruption over the referendum period.

This is a very important time for the Islands, and with so many visiting media I ask for everyone’s patience and assistance in making sure the press leave with the best possible impression of the Islands.”

Press groups include El Mercurio, The New York Times, Sky, Aljazeera, ITN, BBC, The Telegraph and The Sun, along with Argentine newspapers Clarin and La Nacion.

Writing for the latter and also arriving next week is Argentine highly-laurelled academic Beatriz Sarlo, one of 17 intellectuals who contributed to the controversial ‘Alternative View’ document on the Falkland Islands in February 2012 in support of the Falkland Islanders right to self-determination.

The group also criticised the constant harassment to which Islanders are exposed from the Argentine administration under President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Ms Sarlo and her colleagues faced a barrage of disapproval and even death threats for their opinions. Along with, TV journalist Jorge Lanata and two other contributors, Ms Sarlo appeared on a cover of the tabloid La Crónica headlined “In favour of the pirates,” however, two months later the group criticised the Argentine Government for having chosen April 2 as the Day of the Veterans and the Fallen from the 1982 war, suggesting that such a commemoration was ambiguous and appeared to support the war. (PN).-