Mexico's National Journalism Prize Defends Freedom of Expression Carmen Aristegui F. - Reforma
go to original September 5, 2015

The list of this year’s recipients of the non-profit Citizens Council’s National Journalism Prize has been announced, naming the journalists and works that will receive the award on September 11 in Monterrey.

In 2001, the National Prize ceased being awarded by the federal government, and was instead converted into a not-for-profit organization, fostered by the principal universities of the country. Since that time, the prize recognizes

“those journalists who stand out for their achievement and daily exercise of the civic right to be informed, for the quality of their work, and for journalistic practice in benefit of the public opinion.”

Recognized are: the trajectory of Pedro Valtierra, the photojournalist and founder of the Cuartoscuro agency; Miguel Dimayuga, from Proceso magazine, for the best photography; Hugo Roca Joblar, for the best column, published in Replicante magazine; Uniradio, for its coverage of the toxic chemical spill in the Sonora River; Érika Martínez Prado, of Norte de Ciudad Juárez, for the best interview; Darío Castillejos, for cartoons published in El Imparcial de Oaxaca; Rafael E. De Hoyos, for opinion articles in Nexos magazine; and Jaime Kuri Alza and TV UNAM, for scientific divulgation.

The Citizens Council is also recognizing, for investigative journalism and reporting, journalists Rafael Cabrera, Daniel Lizárraga, Irving Huerta, Sebastián Barragán, Gustavo Varguez, and this writer [i.e. Aristeguí], for the investigation and report “The “White House” of Enrique Peña Nieto.” That investigative work publically brought to light the story of how the nation’s president and his family came to possess a luxurious residence, designed and constructed to their linking, on two plots of land acquired in Las Lomas de Chapultepec [an exclusive neighborhood of Mexico City]. The residence, which was protected by the Presidential Guard and valued at more than 7 million dollars, as is now known, can be found in the Public Property Register under the name of a real estate company of building contractor Juan Armando Hinojosa Cantú, the businessman whose professional growth has occurred precisely concurrent to the administrations of Enrique Peña Nieto in the state of México and in the federal government. A scandal any way you look at it.

In the purest manner of Mexican surrealism, we journalists who have been recognized with the most important national award for journalism are the very same who were ejected, in the worst possible manner, from the space in which we were carrying out our work, just for performing this and other projects of investigative journalism.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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