Jorge Rial’s offensive against Jonatan Viale broke out at a time when the “Viale clan”, as the host of “Argenzuela” calls it, was already under the microscope. According to the Rial en Carnaval streaming program, Joni would have started a strong media campaign against the AFA after supposedly being left, in October, without the guidance he received from CEAMSE (Ecological Coordination Metropolitan Area Society of the State), an organization chaired by Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia.
The crossing between Rial and Viale escalated to become one of the most talked about media fights at the end of the year. It all began within the framework of the scandal surrounding the AFA and “Chiqui” Tapia, when Rial dedicated a good part of his program to harshly questioning Viale, whom he accused of having ambiguous behavior and opaque financial ties. According to him, the journalist “throws shit, you respond and then he calls you to explain,” an attitude that irritates him and that he compared to the “more frontal” stance of Joni’s father. In that same tone, he accused him of not having a “clean ass” and of having set up “a structure” in which his wife would be in charge of managing the collection. Rial even asked live how Pablo Toviggino had done to finance the Carnaval streaming channel and hire figures like Tinelli, himself, Fantino and Canosa, hinting at millionaire amounts behind that scheme. Viale denied the charges.
The controversy arose from the AFA intern over the corridor that Estudiantes made to Rosario Central, an episode that triggered cross accusations, an allegedly falsified document and complaints that this conflict exposed a larger network where money, institutional power and the media converge. For Rial, this scenario is the gateway to discussing the independence of certain journalists and the interests that – according to him – operate behind their editorials. Their message was direct: while some present themselves as crystalline voices, they are also part of the framework they seek to question.
In parallel, Alejandro Fantino joined the criticism against Viale from another front. In a broadcast that quickly went viral, he stated that the driver “has an owner” and that that owner would be Carlos Fígoli. He publicly asked him to find out who pays his salary and questioned the fact that he presents himself as an independent figure while working in a medium that – according to him – is linked to the same power that he claims to challenge. Fantino maintained that Viale speaks freely only to the extent that those who finance his space allow him, thus deepening the idea that the journalist would be conditioned by interests unrelated to his work. Viale denies it.
