Mexico / Americas

  
Police in Santiago seize a photographer during an anti-government demonstration. (Reuters/Carlos Vera)

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Abolishing Censorship

Even as trade and new systems of communication turn us into global citizens, the information we need to ensure accountability often stops at national borders. New platforms like social media are valuable tools, but the battle against censorship is hardly over. By Joel Simon

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CPJ awardee Natalya Radina.

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Profiles in Freedom

How does one negotiate the choice to stay and report potentially dangerous news, rather than take a less risky assignment, leave the profession, or flee the country? The recipients of the 2011 International Press Freedom Awards explain. By Kristin Jones

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Attacks on the Press in 2011: Fighting Impunity

The global rate of unpunished murders remains stubbornly high at just below 90 percent. Senior officials in the most dangerous countries are finally acknowledging the problem — the first step in what will be a long, hard battle. By Elisabeth Witchel

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A journalist crouches behind a cement block during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank. (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Evolution in Journalist Security

The danger of covering violent street protests has become a significant risk for journalists, alongside combat and targeted killings. Sexual assault, organized crime, and digital vulnerability are also hazards. The security industry is struggling to keep up. By Frank Smyth

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Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa pledged action to deter anti-press attacks, but his government has accomplished little. (AP/Marco Ugarte)

Attacks on the Press in 2011: In Mexico, Silence or Death Remains the Choice

The Mexican president promised to protect a besieged press corps with a federal protection program, a special prosecutor and new legislation making anti-press violence a federal crime. But Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has failed at nearly every turn. By Mike O’Connor

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Attacks on the Press in 2011: Working in Peril

This video companion to Attacks on the Press recounts the story of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, who works in one of the world’s most dangerous places. (3:26) Read the Attacks on the Press 2011 country profile on Mexico.

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Attacks on the Press in 2011: Journalists Killed

Murders decline, but fatalities rise during coverage of protests. Photographers and freelancers pay an especially high price. Pakistan is the world’s most dangerous nation.

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Attacks on the Press in 2011: Mexico

Criminal groups exerted extraordinary pressure on the press as they extended their control over virtually every sector of society. Journalists were killed or disappeared, media outlets were bombed and threatened. Pervasive self-censorship was a devastating consequence of this environment. In an information vacuum, journalists and citizens increasingly used social media to inform their communities. The…

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Brazil set to test Twitter’s selective blocking policy

I’ve been telling reporters that Twitter’s new national blocking policy was like Chekhov’s gun. Its recent appearance inevitably prefigured its future use.

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Mexican writer Eduardo Lizalde speaks out at a PEN International event. (Reuters/Henry Romero)

In Mexico mission, PEN speaks for a silenced press

The leading American author Russell Banks set the tone on Sunday as he stood among international writers and their local colleagues in Mexico City: “A nation’s journalists and writers, like its poets and story-tellers, are the eyes, ears, and mouths of the people. When journalists cannot freely speak of what they see and hear of…

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