Following Argentina’s 1976 coup, General Jorge Videla was installed as the country’s new leader. Few seemed to notice or care when military police began kidnapping and killing opposition leaders. Public indifference was, in large part, the result of Videla’s strict control of the press. Disinformation campaigns branded his opponents as subversives and terrorists, thus providing political cover for the murders of thousands of liberal activists. But when an alliance of distraught mothers began demanding information regarding their “disappeared” sons and daughters, the Buenos Aires Herald started to pay attention to their stories. Under Robert Cox’s editorial leadership, the staff resisted legal and death threats to become the only local newspaper to report on the atrocities. Their efforts drew international attention to the brutal abuse of power. Set 40 years in the past, Messenger on a White Horse is an object lesson for our own “fake news” era, reminding us that a free press and human rights go hand in hand.  TAW

Q&A following screening