| | |  Editorials | Issues | February 2009 
Mexico Cited Among Most Brutal Places for Journalists
 Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
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Tijuana — The power of criminal groups and the corruption of law enforcement agencies has made Mexico one of the most hazardous places in the world to work as a journalist, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
In its 2008 annual report on conditions for journalists worldwide, the committee said at least 24 reporters have been killed throughout Mexico since 2000, eight in direct reprisal for their work. Seven other journalists have disappeared in Mexico since 2005.
“It is a very serious situation,” Carlos Lauría, the committee's senior program director for the Americas, said during a presentation at offices of the Tijuana newsweekly Zeta. “It is not simply violence and the numbers, but the self-censorship and fear that all journalists face when they don't have even minimal security to carry out their work.”
Worldwide, 41 journalists died because of their work in 2008, a decline from previous years, a trend the committee attributes to a drop in the number of journalists killed in Iraq, where 11 journalists were killed because of their work in 2008, the highest total in any country.
“Iraq is a combat zone and Mexico is not, but the journalists are being targeted in very similar kinds of circumstances,” said Clarence Page, a Chicago Tribune columnist and committee board member.
Five journalists were slain in Mexico last year, the committee reported.
The motive for only one of the deaths has been confirmed, that of a radio reporter who campaigned against violence in the state of Tabasco, according to the committee. |
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