In breakthrough, Mexican media sign crime accord
Major Mexican press organizations agreed today on a code for coverage of organized crime, a step seen as a national breakthrough that could set professional standards well into the future. Though organized crime has been the major story in Mexico for several years, coverage has been haphazard based on time, place, and news organization. The…
Mexican court rules critical documentary can be shown
When a federal judge issued an order last week to suspend screenings of documentary that investigates incompetence in the Mexican judicial system, it looked like the film might be falling victim to the very system it criticizes. The film, “Presumed Guilty” (“Presunto Culpable” in Spanish), exposes flaws in the Mexican judicial system as it charts…
Documenting sexual violence against journalists
The news of the sexual assault against CPJ board member and CBS correspondent Lara Logan hit us hard on Tuesday. At CPJ, we work daily to advocate on behalf of journalists under attack in all kinds of horrific situations around the world. Because of Lara’s untiring work with our Journalist Assistance program, she’s well known…
Aristegui’s dismissal is troubling and inappropriate
On Friday, opposition legislators in Mexico disrupted a congressional session by raising a banner with an image of President Felipe Calderón and a message that read: “Would you let a drunk drive your car? No, right? So why would you let one drive your country?” Radio MVS’ Carmen Aristegui, one of Mexico’s most popular journalists,…
Armando Rodríguez’s murder: Two years, no justice
Two years have passed since the killing of El Diario journalist José Armando Rodríguez Carreón, known to his friends as “El Choco,” and no legal process has begun to shed light on the crime committed on November 13, 2008. Faced with the reality of impunity, his widow, Blanca Martínez, asserted that her only hope lies…
Alfredo Corchado: ‘Trust No One’
On Monday, the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington hosted a panel discussion on the press freedom crisis in Mexico. Carlos Lauría and I spoke about CPJ report “Silence or Death in the Mexican Press” and the results of our meeting in September with President Felipe Calderón. Dolía Estevez described the event in a blog she…
Mexico no different than Iraq, reporters tell Wilson Center
On Monday, before a large audience of government officials, representatives of NGOs, reporters, and students, CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Americas, Carlos Lauría, said that the level of crime violence, and corruption facing the press in Mexico, where more than 30 journalists have been murdered or have gone missing since Felipe Calderón took office…
Program to protect reporters raises doubts in Mexico
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 expect to offer at-risk journalists a…