In response to a statement by the special prosecutor for crimes against the press Octavio Orellana Wiarco during a press conference in Mexico City yesterday in which he denied that Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, we issued the following statement…
“Cherry-picking statistics does not alter the fact that Mexico is one of the most violent places in the world to be a journalist,” said Carlos Lauría, CPJ Americas senior program coordinator. “Press freedom defenders who gather data on the slaying of our colleagues are agreed on this. Editors who are too afraid to send their reporters out to investigate organized crime are agreed on this. The best way for the special prosecutor to improve his country’s sorry image is to successfully prosecute the killers.”