dj, quick
daily dos
fri 5/8/2009
A Mexican journalist was shot dead after reporting he had received threats from local politicians in his home state of Durango.
The War in México: The Journalists
crime
mon 3/9/2009
The United States of America shares a 2,000 mile border with Mexico. One in 10 residents of the U.S. are of Mexican origin. Last year, the two nations did nearly $350 billion dollars in trade. What would happen if México were to fall into a civil war? What if it already has?
Part 1 of 5: The Journalists
Why aren't more journalists reporting on México's violent drug war? Perhaps, it's because they're being murdered.
In the last eight years, more than 45 journalists have been killed in México, making it the second most dangerous country to be a journalist. Number one? Iraq.
Newspapers, radio and television reporters have been covering the drug trade in México for decades. But coverage that was once about a few drug traffickers now includes stories about businessmen, politicians, government officials, judges, police and members of the military. "In México, organized crime can mean the traffickers, the police, the government or the people in the office buildings," warns Pedro Torres, an editor at El Diario newspaper in the border city of Ciudad Juarez just across from El Paso, Texas.
The press has been making enemies and those enemies have taken aim at the press. Alfredo Quijano, of the El Norte newspaper in Monterrey, believes the murders and kidnappings of so many journalists is censoring the news: "We are not publishing everything we know – which is not good – but we are trying to survive."
Even what gets published can benefit the drug trade. Traffickers have begun to hijack the headlines by committing spectacular acts of terrorism, such as mass be-headings, in order to use the media to broadcast their agenda. Author Luis Astorga: "The gangsters use these bloody tactics to try and win a psychological war against their enemy and sow terror in the population."
Next: The Good Guys
contagious
daily dos
tue 12/9/2008
México is the "deadliest place in the Americas to be a journalist," according to the Associated Press. Nearly 25 Mexican journalists have been killed – many of them in drug-related violence – since the year 2000.
iced out
daily dos
wed 6/25/2008
U.S. journalists stationed in Iraq say it has become increasingly difficult to get stories about the Iraq war on the air. ABC, CBS and NBC have only shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage this year, compared with 1,157 minutes in 2007.
ª└εx© Says:
