Argentine lawmakers pass contentious media lawArgentina's senate on Saturday overwhelmingly backed a controversial law that supporters say will wrest wrest tr.v. wrest·ed, wrest·ing, wrests 1. To obtain by or as if by pulling with violent twisting movements: wrested the book out of his hands; wrested the islands from the settlers. media power from a select few oligarchs, but which has been criticized as an attack on press freedom. Legislators backed President Cristina Kirchner's appeal to remake Argentina's media laws by a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. 44 votes to 24, after nearly 20 hours of debate. The bill -- which defines media as being for the "social and public good" -- now looks certain to become law, replacing dictatorship-era rules that according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Kirchner enshrine en·shrine also in·shrine tr.v. en·shrined, en·shrin·ing, en·shrines 1. To enclose in or as if in a shrine. 2. To cherish as sacred. a concentration of media ownership. The move seeks to place some limits on multiple concessions held by private companies. It is likely to force the breakup breakup The division of a company into separate parts. The most famous breakup to date was the 1984 division of AT&T (formerly, American Telephone & Telegraph Company). This breakup was intended to increase competition in the communications industry. of the country's most powerful media bloc, Grupo Clarin, which owns the popular daily Clarin. The measures were announced after Kirchner's ruling Peronist party received a trouncing during parliamentary elections in June, a loss she blamed on media criticism. Opposition lawmakers said the new measures would give the state excessive power over media ownership, but they were not able to muster enough support to defeat the bill. Clarin general editor Ricardo Roa, wrote on Saturday that the law's singular aim was to create "a weaker and more docile doc·ile adj. 1. Ready and willing to be taught; teachable. 2. Yielding to supervision, direction, or management; tractable. press." In September hundreds of tax inspectors raided Clarin offices, a move condemned by opposition lawmakers as politically motivated. 
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