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At least 13 journalists were killed in Mexico in the first eight months of 2022, the highest number CPJ has ever documented in the country in a single year. In a country characterized by corruption and organized crime, it’s unclear how many were targeted directly because of their work.
“That is a crisis of press freedom that we’ve rarely seen anywhere in the world,” Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative, said in an interview with KJZZ Phoenix’s Fronteras Desk. “Let alone in a country that is officially in peace time like Mexico.”
These deaths are attributed in part to the failure of the Mexican authorities, on both the federal and local levels, to make the country safer for reporters or even take crimes against the press seriously.
Despite the presence of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, killings continue in the country. At least nine reporters and dozens of human rights defenders have been killed while technically under protection from the federal mechanism since the institution was created in 2012.
Read CPJ’s briefing on the ongoing press freedom crisis in Mexico.
Global Press Freedom Updates
- U.S. reporters wary of online, legal threats in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade
- Russian authorities in Kazan question, search homes of 7 RFE/RL freelance journalists and contributors
- Hong Kong judge upholds police request to search Jimmy Lai’s phones
- Iraqi security forces assault, detain journalists covering Baghdad protests
- Punjab authorities open blasphemy and defamation investigation into Pakistani journalist Waqar Satti
- Greek journalist Evangelos Areteos was denied entry to Turkey
- Four Zimbabwean journalists beaten, forced to delete footage by ruling party supporters
- CPJ joins calls for Turkish regulator to reverse ad ban on Evrensel daily
Spotlight
On Tuesday, September 6, CPJ is co-sponsoring a panel discussion at the Geneva Press Club titled “Democracy and Free Speech in Hong Kong: The case of Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily,” in which CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg will participate. In-person and online registration is open. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. CEST.
At the International Press Institute World Congress, Ginsberg is scheduled to moderate a panel discussion on alternative paths to justice regarding impunity in journalist killings on September 10 at 9:30 a.m. EDT. At noon, CPJ Emergencies Director Lucy Westcott is scheduled to participate in an interactive workshop about gendered disinformation and online harassment of women journalists.
The panels will take place at Columbia University in New York City, and registration is live for in-person participation and the livestream.
What We Are Reading
- ‘Silence is no longer the answer’ – the Kashmiri journalists living in exile — Raqib Hameed Naik, Al Jazeera Journalism Review
- Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenya’s media: a bitter-sweet affair that didn’t end happily — Michael Ndonye, The Conversation
- South Africa: clash of the Booker titans — Anton Harber, The Guardian
- Marcela Turati on a Career Spent Investigating Mexico’s Crisis of Missing People — Agus Morales, Global Investigative Journalism Network
- A new media project is working to sneak blocked media into Russia and wants to become a hub for press freedom in totalitarian regimes — Steven Perlberg, Business Insider
- Insiders reveal how Erdogan tamed Turkey’s newsrooms — Jonathan Spicer, Reuters
- The media is in medias res — Denver del Rosario, Inquirer.net
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