Foreign Policy Blogs

Mexican Journalists a 'Deliberate Target'

In the wake of journalists recently murdered in Mexico, the country’s president, Felipe Calderon met with two international press organizations last week for recommendations on how to stop the violence.

The meeting with the Inter-American Press Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reportedly had a positive tone and Calderon promised to do what he can to help.

Even though he says the situation with criminal groups already existed when he took office in 2006, on Calderon’s watch the CPJ says that over 30 journalists have been killed or disappeared. At the heart of what is terrorizing the journalist community in Mexico is criminal groups using violence to control information in different regions of the country.

During the 90-minute meeting with Calderon, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon writes on the CPJ blog that they made specific requests of the Mexican government to help end the cycle of violence:

…we asked the president to do four things: Push for legislation making crimes against freedom of expression a federal offense; strengthen the office of the special prosecutor charged with prosecuting such crimes; create a government commission to provide security to journalists under threat; and take action to stem abuses against journalists committed by the security forces involved in the fight against organized crime.

Calderon didn’t make any intractable promises, but at least he took the time to listen, and pledged to do what he could to provide more protection, support, and consequences.

The situation is grave and not getting any better, and the journalist community is hoping the federal government can intervene and affect some positive changes. But Mexican journalists and the journalism community in Mexico at large is not hopeful that the government can make it safe for them to work again. As bureaucrats grind out possible solutions, they must continue to work in an exposed situation as targets.

As the CPJ’s Joel Simon wrote about the meeting:

…the 30-plus journalists killed and disappeared since the beginning of the president’s term in 2006 are not collateral damage as some have suggested. Rather, the media is a deliberate target in a campaign by criminal groups to dictate what can and cannot be reported in the areas they control.

 

Author

Genevieve Belmaker

Genevieve Belmaker is a freelance journalist and contributing editor with The Epoch Times (www.theepochtimes.com). She also contributes to Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists and Poynter.org. Her blog on journalism is http://artofreportage.com.

Genevieve has traveled throughout the U.S., Asia, Central America, Israel and the West Bank for reporting assignments, including major investigative reports on the recovery of New Orleans, the encroaching presence of China in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the dangerous import of melamine-contaminated milk into the U.S. and settlement outposts in the West Bank. She regularly reports on issues related to journalism, and the work of journalists.

She holds a BA from the University of Southern California in International Relations, and has been a member of several prominent national and international professional media organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the International Women’s Media Foundation, the New York Press Club, and the Newswomen’s Club of New York. She lives in Jerusalem, Israel with her husband and son.

Areas of Focus:
New Media; Journalism; Culture and Society