2010
Program to protect reporters raises doubts in Mexico
November 9, 2010 3:44 PM ET
The Mexican government is currently putting together a program, it says, that will help reduce one of the most brutal problems for journalists: their lack of protection from death threats from drug cartels, government officials, and ordinary criminals. Senior officials at the Ministry of Interior told CPJ that they...
Doubt cast on confession in Rodríguez murder
September 24, 2010 5:03 PM ET
The man who Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa said had confessed to taking part in the murder of reporter Armando Rodríguez Carreón was tortured, the newspaper El Diario in Ciudad Juárez reported today. On Wednesday, Calderón told a delegation from CPJ and the Inter American Press Association about the man's...
Mexican journalist said things ‘very hard’ just before murder
February 9, 2010 5:43 PM ET
Over the weekend I spent several hours with two prominent journalists in Chilpancingo, Mexico, wondering who murdered their colleague Jorge Ochoa Martínez on January 29, and hearing about some of the seemingly unbearable pressures on Mexican journalists. Ochoa was shot in the face as he was leaving a birthday party...
Mexican cartels blow the whistle on news coverage
January 15, 2010 10:56 AM ET
On Thursday, I wrote about the murder of reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa on January 7 and how the Mexican media has silenced its own coverage of the killing. Today, I will get into how journalists and drug cartels have entered into a dangerous, symbiotic relationship....
Media self-censors after killing of Mexican reporter
January 14, 2010 11:39 AM ET
Twenty-nine-year-old reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa was picked up by gunmen in two SUVs from the streets of downtown Saltillo, Mexico, late at night on January 7. He was tortured, bound by his hands and feet, and dumped at the Motel Marbella, where they shot him dead, according to state investigators, who discovered...
From deathbed, Mexican journalist makes accusation
January 5, 2010 5:13 PM ET
In the course of investigating the December 22 murder of newspaper owner José Alberto Velázquez López, CPJ discovered allegations of corruption that often hover over crimes against journalists in Mexico. The first thing I heard was that the authorities in the town where Velázquez worked had ordered his murder. In...