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Argentina is facing new accusations it reached a new low trying to control the media and suppress dissenting voices.

Published: March. 15, 2012 at 9:47 AM

BUENOS AIRES, March 15 (UPI) -- Argentina is facing new accusations it reached a low in trying to control the media and suppress dissenting voices.

Spanish journalist Alberto Padilla, a former CNN reporter, says an Argentine television channel received government orders to suspend a program minutes before he was to go on air for a live interview.

An order to stop the program came directly from Argentine Federal Planning and Public Investment Julio Miguel de Vido, Padilla said in comments widely published and broadcast in the non-government media.

The broadcast suspension order Tuesday apparently had more to do with what preceded the planned interview on the C5N channel than with Padilla himself, the reports indicated.

Channel presenter Marco Longobardi was interviewing former government minister Alberto Fernandez, a critic of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, when the transmission was interrupted in the middle of a follow-up question.

"It was a brutal act of censorship, I have 15 years in this trade and have never seen anything like it," Padilla said.

The Mexican-born journalist is a recognized media figure in Latin America and worked previously at the CNN.

The following morning broadcaster Infobae Group, owner of the channel, issued an apology for what it called "excess of formalism." The channel previously explained it suspended the broadcast because Longobardi's program had exceeded the allotted time.

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Argentina under fire for muzzling press