Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson introduces us to a new journalistic expression: narco-censorship. It's the description specific to the media's coverage of the drug war inMexico where reporters and editors, out of fear or caution, are being forced to write either what the drug lords demand, or to remain silent by not writing anything at all. In a country where journalists have been intimidated, kidnapped and killed, Wilkinson writes: "One of the devastating by-products of the carnage is the drug traffickers' chilling ability to co-opt underpaid and under-protected journalists — who are haunted by the knowledge that they are failing in their journalistic mission of informing society. She quotes an editor in Reynosa, in the border state of Tamaulipas, who tells her: "You love journalism, you love the pursuit of truth, you love to perform a civic service and inform your community. But you love your life more... We don't like the silence. But it's survival." An estimated 30 reporters have been killed or have disappeared sincePresident Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offensive against the drug cartels in December 2006, making Mexico one of the deadliest countries for journalists in the world. Ten days ago the UN belatedly sent its first such mission to Mexico to examine the resulting dangers to freedom of expression. Few killings are ever investigated, and the climate of impunity leads to more bloodshed, says an upcoming report from the New York-basedCommittee to Protect Journalists. "It is not a lack of valour on the part of the journalists. It is a lack of backing," says broadcaster Jaime Aguirre. "If they kill me, nothing happens." When a large drug gang attacked an army garrison in Reynosa in April, trapping soldiers inside, it was front- page news in the Los Angeles Times. It went unreported in Reynosa. Reporters and editors say they routinely receive telephoned warnings when they publish something the traffickers don't like. More often, knowing their publications are being watched and their newsrooms infiltrated, they avoid publishing anything considered risky. Social media networks, such as Twitter, have filled some of the breach, with residents frantically sending danger alerts. And a secretive "narco blog" has started posting numerous videos of henchmen and their victims. But traffickers also use social media to spread rumours and stoke panic. In Durango, where more newsmen were killed in 2009 than in any other state, broadcast reporter Ruben Cardenas says journalists can no longer do their job. Source: LA Times
Narco-censorship - how drug traffickers silence the Mexican media
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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