Farewell to Jorge Lanata, one of the most influential (and controversial) political journalists in Argentina

Jorge Ernesto Lanata He was born on September 12, 1960 in Mar del Plata. Your parents, María Angélica Álvarez and the dentist Ernesto Lanatathey lived in Sarandí. At 56 years old, when his parents had already died, he found out that he was adopteda fact that, although disconcerting, did not alter his perspective on life. He chose not to delve into his origins, focusing on his present and future rather than his past.

Around May 1987, at the age of 27, He was founder of the center/left newspaper Página/12 and he was its journalistic director until 1994. That newspaper defended the fight for human rights, the demand for punishment of those responsible for state terrorism, the processes of regional integration, and The neoliberal economic policies promoted in the nineties were harshly criticized.. In August 1990, he published the monthly magazine Página/30, which he directed until April 1995.

In 1998, he founded Veintiuno magazinewhere he brought together former Página/12 editors such as Ernesto Tenembaum, Marcelo Zlotogwiazda, Martín Caparrós, Andrea Rodríguez and Adrián Paenzaamong others. On its first anniversary, the magazine was renamed Veintidós, and on its second, Veintitrés, a name it maintains. Lanata left his management at the end of 2001 and sold most of the shares to the group that owns TV Guía. In 2001 he founded EGO magazine. He founded and directed the newspaper Crítica de la Argentina (2008), this new newspaper tried to compete with Página/12 for the public, but with a clear anti-Kirchnerist discourse. The newspaper passed into the hands of the Spanish businessman Antonio Mata, who declared it bankrupt in 2010, leaving 178 workers unemployed.

He was a contributor to publications such as Siete Días, Diario Popular, El Periodista de Buenos Aires, Perfil, and abroad such as El Nuevo Herald (from Miami), The Washington Times, El Espectador (from Bogotá) and El Diario de Caracas (from Venezuela). .

Television was undoubtedly one of the pillars of his fame and popularity.. In America he hosted the successful “Día D” in three periods and on the same channel he did “La Luna”, “Behind the News” and “Por qué?”. He had a stint on Channel 26 (“After Everything)” and from 2012 he hosted “Journalism for All” on Channel 13. His move to Grupo Clarín earned him some criticism, many reminded him that in more than one public interview he had criticized that media group and He had assured that “he would never work at Clarín”.

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Lanata in her “D-Day” years with the remembered Adolfo Castelo.

Radio was also important in his career, particularly during his later years. He worked on various stations and programs: his start on Radio Nacional was joined by Radio Belgrano (“Sin anesthesia”), Rock & Pop (“Hora 25” and “RompeCabezas”), Radio Colonia de Uruguay, Radio del Plata (“Lanata AM” and “Lanata PM”) and He was currently carrying out “Lanata sinfilter” on Radio Miterwhich is also streamed.

Throughout his career He won 26 Martín Fierro awards for his performances on radio and television, including gold.. He won Tato Awards, Clarín Awards, Éter Awards, Konex Award, ACE Awards and Fund TV Awards. He was nominated for an Emmy for the investigation “K Money Trail.”

Jorge Lanata’s health in recent years

Lanata suffered from diabetesa disease that affected his kidneys and led to chronic kidney disease. Furthermore, already had other risk factors, such as being a smoker, being overweight, and having coronary artery diseasewhich required the placement of five stents.

Since 2011, doctors have indicated that their kidney problem was irreversibleso he needed dialysis or a kidney transplant to remove waste and fluid from his blood that his diseased kidneys could not properly filter.

In 2015 he underwent an operation of more than six hours at the Favaloro Foundation to receive a kidney in the first cross transplant between four people in Latin America. The unprecedented intervention had to be authorized judicially. The healthy mother of a sick young man agreed to donate one of her kidneys to Lanata, while the journalist’s wife, Sara Stewart Brownconsented to the removal of one of his kidneys to transplant it to the woman’s son.

In 2019, Lanata had to be hospitalized five times. The first hospitalization, for 15 days, was due to gastroenteritis. Later, he contracted other viruses, including conjunctivitis and influenza A.

2021 was not a good year for his health either. In addition to suffering the first episode of urinary infection, he had to undergo a laparoscopic surgical procedure at the Favaloro Foundation, just months before being diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia and a thrombosis in his left leg.

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Jorge Lanata with his last wife Elba Marcovecchio.

In 2022 He had to be treated for a “femoral nerve block”, which caused mobility problems. But also, at the end of that year, he also contracted COVID-19, which further complicated his respiratory problems.

In April of last year, the journalist had already been hospitalized for respiratory problems, which generated a lot of concern among those around him. Between August and October 2023, he experienced several complicated health episodes, including a urinary tract infection. On September 12, on his birthday, he had to return to intensive care due to fever.

He was admitted to the Italian Hospital in June of this year, when he suffered decompensation while undergoing routine studies. On Tuesday, September 10, the medical institution reported that the journalist had been transferred to a new health center to undergo rehabilitation treatment appropriate to his condition. Just a week later he had to return to Italiano due to an infection and pneumonia..

Unfortunately, this last hospitalization was the end of a long process. After a long hospitalization in 2023, Jorge Lanata left a deep reflection on life and death: ”I realized later that I could not have returned. I don’t know why I came back. Today there could be a tribute film or program here and bye. It is true that the world turns without us. And then, how to live?” he had asked himself.

And he concluded: ”You know what, I don’t know. Imagine that everything is over now, now. Try to live without regretting what you didn’t do, what you couldn’t, what you left behind. We think so, but there is no time. At any moment, a life can steal a month or more from you.”