What Mexico Is and Isn’t Doing to Prevent Violent Crimes Against Journalists Michael Rios - PBS Newshour
go to original June 2, 2017

Five journalists have been killed in Mexico this year, according to an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists. In four cases, the motive for their slayings was confirmed to be directly tied to their work.



Crimes against journalists are not a new phenomenon in Mexico. By CPJ’s count, nearly 100 journalists have been slain in the country since the group started keeping track in 1992 – many for reasons related to their work. But the killings have been more frequent in recent years. Since 2010, roughly 50 journalists have been killed, with only a handful of cases leading to convictions.

To address the issue, the Mexican government has implemented several programs and laws over the past few years designed to keep journalists safe and punish those who commit the crimes. The problem is that very few of these programs actually get results, said Artur Romeu, communication coordinator for the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.

In 2012, the federal government launched a program called the Federal Mechanism for Protecting Human Rights Defenders and Journalists to offer protection to journalists whose lives are believed to be at risk. These services include equipping journalists with surveillance cameras, police escorts, patrols and portable panic buttons that notify authorities in the event of an attack.

But Romeu told the NewsHour that some of these services have been ineffective and insufficient. Many of the panic buttons don’t work, he said, and the police patrols and escorts can be burdensome.

“I didn’t want my home to be watched by escorts,” said journalist Carlos Omar Barranco, who had been offered protection under the program. “What journalist can move that way? Much of our job has to be done in discretion,” he said in Spanish.

In addition to the Federal Mechanism, the government created the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) in 2006 to investigate crimes against journalists and bring those cases to court.

The issue, according to a recent Reporters Without Borders investigation, is that the program doesn’t have the necessary resources to fully ensure the safety of journalists.

Read the rest at PBS Newshour

Related: Mexico Arrests Three Over Journalist Maximino Rodriguez's Murder (Agence France-Presse)

Related: Reporter Threatened and Has Part of Ear Cut Off in Mexico's Quintana Roo State (Committee to Protect Journalists)

Related: The Country's Crime Reporters Face a Grim Choice: Dishonesty or Death (Bloomberg)

Related: In Latin America, Mexico Ranks Among Most Dangerous Countries for Journalists (The Wire)

Related: By Murder, Prison and Rhetoric, Here’s How the Global Free Press Is Being Suppressed (PBS Newshour)

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