World Press Freedom Day Sees Mexico Journalists Forced Into Hiding Leticia Pineda - Agence France-Presse
go to original May 3, 2013

Journalists rally in Xalapa, Veracruz state, Mexico on April 28, 2013 commemorating the first anniversary of the assassination of journalist Regina Martinez, who worked as crime reporter for weekly magazine Proceso. (AFP/Sergio Hernandez Vega)

MEXICO CITY - Facing threats, murder and kidnappings, many Mexican journalists have been forced to go into hiding, while the country’s vicious drug war has driven some newspapers to self-censorship.

Some journalists have gone into self-imposed exile abroad while others, like Luis Cardona, a 53-year-old who reported in the flashpoint state of Chihuahua, have taken refuge elsewhere in the country.

“I did a story on 15 hostages and I became number 16,” said Cardona, who was taken hostage last year while reporting on kidnappings in Chihuahua, which borders the United States.

He told his story to AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location in Mexico, which has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist.

As World Press Freedom Day is commemorated on Friday, Mexico faces a grim record, with Reporters Without Borders saying that 86 media workers have been killed while 18 more have disappeared since 2000.

According to Articulo 19, a Mexican media rights group that helps journalists escape violence, 15 reporters went into hiding within the country last year.

Read the rest at Jakarta Globe

UNESCO's Director-General, Irina Bokova, message on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2013. (unesco)

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