In northern Mexico, a good journalist is a dead journalist

19/03/2010 / MEXICO

In northern Mexico, a good journalist is a dead journalist

A journalist comes under fire in Reynosa, north Mexico, 17 February 2009.

While the murder of three people linked to the US Consulate in north Mexico attracted the attention of the world's media, in the local press the incident went almost entirely unreported. Why? Because local journalists prefer to keep quiet rather than risk losing their lives. The task has now been taken on by web users, able to hide under an anonymous guise.

Cities like Reynosa and Ciudad Jaurez, where the murder took place, are considered by Reporters Without Borders as some of the world's most dangerous places for journalists to work. Located in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas and sees daily violence between drug trafficking gangs, a total of eight journalists are thought to have been kidnapped or killed in a two week period earlier this month.

Intimidation, blackmail and corruption are the daily dealings of journalists who work in the region. For 500 dollars a month (360 euros), a few bottles of alcohol and the occasional prostitute, the drugs barons try to buy the silence of reporters.

As a result, local residents are unable to inform themselves by traditional means. In counter attack, web users post images of shootouts that haven't made it into the traditional press on their blogs, while Twitter is employed as a means of bearing witness to unreported crimes.

Contributors

Juan

A journalist comes under fire

Posted on YouTube by "Sonyxp".

On 17 February 2009, a journalist in Reynosa comes under fire during a report on the cartels (after 00’30).

“They tell the news in a way which will offend no drug cartel”

Juan (not his real name) is a partner for a trucking company from Reynosa Tamaulipas. He runs the blog "Todo sobre narcotrafico en Mexico" (All about drug trafficking in Mexico).

I created this blog for the simple reason that nobody in the media was reporting the shootouts, the killings or kidnappings done by the cartels.

Hundreds of reporters and journalists have been killed in the past few years because of the fact that they were telling the truth. That's why today, newspapers, magazines and TV media are using what's called self-censorship. They want to keep their jobs as reporters or journalists, but they also want to stay alive, so they tell the news in a way which will offend no drug cartel or even government official. The problem of drug trafficking in Mexico is horrible. The majority of the police are garbage, they receive bribes from the drug cartels to not arrest them or seize any drugs.

Today anybody can be a reporter, nowadays most of us have cell phones with a camera, so people send me videos and pictures to my email account.

The situation here is very bad and it's getting worst, recently the Gulf cartel and the Zetas, which had been working together for years, broke ties. As a result there are shootouts almost every day and at any time; both are fighting for control of Tamaulipas, knowing that tons of drugs cross the border to the Unites States through that state."

Juan

Citizens take on the role of reporters

Posted on YouTube by paulvanjaf.

Amateur images filmed after a shootout that took place between 11pm and 6am on 5 March 2010, near Reynosa, in the state of Tamaulipas (after 01’30).

Video posted on YouTube by "NarcotraficoenMexico", 15 March 2010.

According to the author the bodies of four torture victims were found with their hands and feet tied and with their faces covered in adhesive tape in Nogales.

Posted on YouTube by "balacerasupn" 13 July 2009.

Amateur video of a shootout in the state of Michoacan. At 00’19, a man is seen stepping out of a car with what looks an AK-47.

Posted on YouTube 7 February 2010 by "porteuorochavez".

This footage was filmed on a mobile phone on 7 February 2010 in the town of Nogales, in the state of Sonora. While filming, the author tells her children to move away from the window and go back to bed.

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Comments

drugs

Submitted by Unregistered userjoseph walker (not verified) on Tue, 23/03/2010 - 12:31.

Hi observers,they gunned down American people during the days of Mafia and drug barons of the roaring twenties .Most officials were corrupt in American Law and order,and many Judges were on the pay books.Best advice,do not send your journalist to America today,they will probably be given cement shoes and end up in the Hudson river.

Why are you this corrupt Mexico? Bravo! for courage of reporters

Submitted by Mark1974 (not verified) on Fri, 26/03/2010 - 14:39.

Does the misery in Mexico need to continue? Why such corrupt police? Why such corrupt state and capital city Mexico government officials? Why mothers who let their boys grow up to be drug gang members? Why neighbors who do not 'turn-in' the criminal who lives next door? Why no control on Mexico's southern border and at Mexico's ports to keep the drugs OUT of Mexico?

Why?

This is year 2010 everyone. We have the internet, cell phones, planes that will fly us almost everywhere on the globe.

But a country like Mexico has -- unofficially, of course -- 60-75 drug related murders every week. Every week!

And in Mexico you don't call the police when you need help; that does no good. Too many police bought off by the drug cartels.

This is anarchy. Mayhem. Evil. (in essence, unchanged for now 20-25 years)

Mexican people, get your OWN problem fixed NOW. You are an embarasment. Shame on those who do nothing. Shame on those who are cowards. If you do not fix this now, tomorrow and years 2011, 2012, and beyond will be worse.

PRAISE for these brave 'reporters' who risk danger to tell us the truth AND hope that people will wake up, get courage, and do the right thing.