Argentina's Senate passes a controversial reform law that, critics say, targets media outlets critical of the government.

Argentines president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner declared a victory after the bill was passed with a 44-24 vote. She had pushed to change the way the media operates in the South American nation, after her party suffered devastating political losses last year.

Kirchner had blamed the media coverage for her party's defeats.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the bill divides the airwaves in three parts: One third of broadcast concessions would be allocated to the private companies, one third to state broadcasters, and the remaining third to the nonprofit organizations. The bill would limit the number of licenses a company can hold, and it would set quotas for national programming, CNN reports.

"We believe that the regulator must be autonomous and independent to ensure that broadcast concessions are not subjected to political interference," said Carlos Lauria, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas, in an article posted on the CPJ Web site.

VA/MB