NOT much has gone right recently for Cristina Fernández, Argentina's embattled president. She has suffered humiliations in a fight with bondholders abroad while enduring pot-banging protesters and a general strike at home. But her government is savouring the prospect of imminent victory in a protracted dispute with the Clarín media group, one of its most powerful critics. In 2009 Ms Fernández pushed through a law redistributing broadcasting licences. It splits them equally between the private sector, the state and a nebulous "public sector" (which opponents say is government-dominated). The law bars owners of national free-to-air television and radio channels from also holding cable-television licences; it divides the cable-television market into 2,200 geographical areas, and limits operators to just 24 of them. The law was aimed at Clarín, Argentina's biggest media group, which had previously been a government ally until a falling-out over farm taxes. It gave the group a year to divest either its cable operations or its national free-to-air channel, Channel 13. Ms Fernández's supporters claim the law favours media pluralism: they have taken to waving flags at football matches emblazoned with Clarín miente ("Clarín lies"). But her opponents, and free-speech advocates abroad, see the measure as an ill-disguised effort to silence a powerful critic. Channel 13 was alone among the five national television channels to give full coverage to the recent protests. The government claims Clarín holds 240 cable licences, ten radio licenses, and four open television licenses, as well as Argentina's best-selling newspaper. Clarín says it has 158 cable licences and three of its four television channels are regional. It says that other big broadcasters that were meant to divest last December and did not have an injunction were not forced to do so because they support the government. In 2009 Clarín obtained an injunction staying the implementation of the law. This expires on December 7th. Unless the group presents a divestment plan by then, the government says it will start forcibly to auction off its "excess" licences. Clarín has filed several legal claims to extend the injunction and to challenge the constitutionality of the media law; it says the justice ministry has blocked the courts from hearing them. But Clarín also appeared to overreach itself, filing a criminal claim against pro-government media and journalists for incitement to violence, only to withdraw it this week amid a storm of protest. The Supreme Court this week ordered the lower courts to rule on the media law's constitutionality within a "reasonable" time. Even so, everything suggests the government is preparing to wrest from Clarín much of its television empire. Instead of striking a blow for media pluralism, in practical terms that looks like another step in the building of a pro-government broadcasting monopoly.