During the years of the Argentinean military rule in 1970s and 1980s, known as the "dirty war", thousands of protestors, communists, left-wing activists and anyone seen as an opponent disappeared.

The human cost was immense, but whilst many in Argentina and around the world campaigned for the thousands who disappeared, the children they left behind were forgotten.

In the last few years Argentina has begun to confront this grim past and seek justice against some of those responsible for the "dirty war".

Rageh Omar is joined in the studio by Pederico Rodriguez, a victim of Argentina's military regime, imprisoned and tortured for three years and then exiled in London for nearly thirty years.

On the Listening Post this week, the Murdoch empire takes on the British Broadcasting Corporation and the muslim rapper who says he is "Loosing his religion to tomorrows headlines".

We begin this week with a tale of two media empires – one private and one publicly owned.

Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp is the world's biggest media company in private hands – it is valued at more than 50 billion dollars – and its influence spans many countries.

Britain's state funded broadcaster – the BBC – is the world's largest news organisation. NewsCorp went after the BBC – and another important British institution – the country's broadcast regulator – Ofcom.

James Murdoch, the heir apparent to his father's company – accused the BBC and Ofcom of strangling private media – is what he described as an unfair fight.

Essentially Murdoch asked – how can companies like NewsCorp charge web users for news content – when state subsidized news sites like the BBC's – offer news on the web for free?

That is our starting point this week: two different visions of the future of media – one private; one public – what news should cost on the web – and the potential repercussions that these competing visions might have for news consumers everywhere.

Christian Poveda during an interview in San Sebastian, Spain, in September 2008. Photograph: Rafa Rivas/AFP/Getty Images

 

A French film-maker and photojournalist who spent years researching a documentary on the criminal underbelly of El Salvador's gang culture has been found dead in the Central American country, police said today.

Christian Poveda's body was discovered with a bullet wound to the head near his car, about 10 miles north of San Salvador. He was on his way back from filming in La Campanera, a poor and overcrowded suburb where the Mara 18 street gang, the subject of his documentary, is based.

La Vida Loca, an unflinching portrait of gang members' everyday lives, had been due for release in France on 30 September. But Poveda's work had already drawn the attention of the people featured and he had begun to receive threats, said a friend and fellow photographer, Alain Mingham.

During its production, several of Poveda's subjects were either arrested or killed.

"Christian was not overly worried until recently," Mingham told the news website Rue89.com. "But his film had been shown on [the television channel] Canal+Espagne and pirate copies were circulating in Salvador, sold for a euro each. Some gangs then accused him of making business out of them, but the bosses calmed them down."

In a statement today, El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, said he was "devastated" by news of the assassination and ordered an immediate police investigation. Funes, himself a former journalist, had met Poveda to discuss the growing problem of gang violence.

"He had real recognition in this world, and the gangs sometimes asked him to act as a mediator," said Mingham. "Even the president … consulted him on the way in which to make progress."

Poveda, 54, first came to El Salvador in the 1980s in order to cover the civil war but soon developed a fascination for the "maras", the violent, tattooed street gangs that originated in Los Angeles and which have formed vast criminal networks throughout Central America.

By Andrew Belonsky, 12:53 AM on Fri Sep 4 2009, 784 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been on a rampage against newspapers he doesn't own who bring up his naughty relationship with an 18-year old alleged prostitute mistress. And now his tabloid war has taken an unholy, hell-baiting turn.

Left-wing papers and tabloids have been absolutely drooling over the details of Berlusconi's private life, but it wasn't until recently that Catholic newspaper Avvenire gave into public pressure and an opinion on the salacious gossip. And did they ever! Editor Dino Boffo wrote:

People have understood the unease, the mortification, the suffering that this arrogant neglect of sobriety has caused the Catholic Church.

Perhaps Boffo thought that his association with the church would save him from Berlusconi's wrath, but even Jesus couldn't stop the prime minister.

Il Giornale, a paper owned by Berlusconi's brother, retaliated by claiming the Italian secret service was investigating Boffo's secret gay life and revealed readers that he had been named in a 2004 sexual harassment suit, which alleged he made threatening calls to his male trick's girlfriend. Those Italians sure have mastered the art of the sex scandal!

Boffo yesterday admitted that he paid a fine in the suit, although claimed that someone else had used his cell phone to make the calls. He also insists the Italian interior minister told him no gay-related investigations had ever occurred. No matter, because Boffo resigned from his post, for the "barbaric" articlel had tarnished his name and gave his family a collective headache. Perhaps it's the work of Satan?

My life, the life of my family and that of my newsroom have been violated in an act of sacrilege I would have never thought imaginable.

The fallen editor goes on to wonder what Berlusconi and his allies' newspaper war means for free press in Italy. Well, not much, for Vittorio Feltri, editor of the paper that dragged Boffo's name through the mud, said they ran printed the story "to interest public opinion and to sell newspapers." Perhaps something got lost in translation, for "interest" definitely sounds like "influence."

Every time I read something about Berlusconi I am appalled, intrigued and flabbergasted, all at the same time...