An Argentine court yesterday granted a last-minute injunction blocking the application of key parts of the country’s new media law, allowing media conglomerate Grupo Clarín to avoid government seizure of radio and television licenses in excess of limits contemplated by the law.

The decision by the Federal Civil and Commercial Court extends a previous hold placed on two key elements of the 2009 law until the Supreme Court rules on their constitutionality, news reports said. That hold was set to expire today, Dec. 7 — or “7D”, as it became known in the media.

“IPI welcomes yesterday’s ruling insofar as we believe that the Supreme Court should have the opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of the license limits set forth by the media law before the government proceeds with implementation. We urge both sides to allow the justice system to do its job,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi said today.

Trionfi noted that IPI has maintained a consistent position throughout the see-sawing legal battle between Clarín and the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. “In IPI’s view, diversity of media content is an important indicator of press freedom and, in some cases, can be achieved through pluralism of media ownership. But we are troubled by the Argentine government’s aggressive and public attacks on Grupo Clarín.”

Article 45 of the new media law, passed in Oct. 2009, limits companies to 24 cable television licenses in addition to 10 open frequency radio or television licenses. Article 161 established a divestment procedure for companies whose holdings exceed those limits. In response to the law, Grupo Clarín — which owns 240 cable television broadcasters, 10 radio stations, 4 television channels, in addition to the newspaper Clarín — launched a constitutional challenge to the law that targeted, among others, articles 45 and 161.

On May 22 of this year, Argentina’s Supreme Court had ruled that a three-year old injunction against compliance with Article 161 would expire on Dec. 7, 2012, which the government interpreted to mean that forcible divestment could begin on that date—a view that had been fiercely contested by Grupo Clarín.

The Kirchner government has announced it will ask the Supreme Court to overturn the injunction, which Martín Sabbatella, head of the federal commission tasked with enforcing the law (AFSCA) called “harmful to democracy.” Prior to yesterday’s annoncement, Justice Minister Julio Alak had said a ruling against the government in the case would constitute an “uprising” against the law and make “a mockery of the popular will”.

Andrés D’Alessandro, director of the Argentine Forum for Journalist (FOPEA) criticsed the government’s attempts to pressure the courts. “We have to respect the decisions of the courts and, keeping in mind that this issue is under judicial review, we have to continue trusting in the impartiality of the justice system.”

Grupo Clarín and the Kirchner government have been engaged in a prominent struggle for public opinion, with both sides releasing dueling television ads earlier this year and the president using public addresses known in Spanish as “cadenas” to attack Clarín and question its motives. In recent times, the slogan “Clarín lies” has become a rallying cry for her supporters.