Mexican journalists' lives, work in danger

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published June 26, 2007

Iraq is the most dangerous country for journalists, which is no surprise given that war-torn country's spreading violence and lack of secure places to work and live. It's nothing less than shocking then to learn the identity of the next worst country for journalists to do their jobs free from kidnappings, murderous assaults and threats. It's not a nation in the Middle East, Africa or even South America, but our North American neighbor Mexico.

Recently, a popular Mexican TV reporter who specialized in harmless feature stories in Monterrey, a mere 100 miles from Texas, disappeared along with his cameraman. If reporter Gamaliel Lopez Candanosa and cameraman Gerardo Paredes Perez are found dead, as their colleagues fear, they will be among more than 30 Mexican journalists who have been murdered doing their jobs in the past six years.

Even that shocking statistic understates the damage done to a free press in Mexico, as reported by the Washington Post. "Journalistic idealism is through, " Eduardo Campos, a top editor at the newspaper El Norte, told the Post. "The debate is no longer theoretical."

It's not as though the Mexican press establishment has given up meekly. In addition to three dozen murders - mostly committed by drug traffickers unhappy with exposure in news stories - journalists have been kidnapped, beaten, arrested on trumped-up charges and sent ominous warnings. The decapitated head of a local government official was left in the doorway of the Tabasco Hoy newspaper.

Grenades have been thrown into newspaper offices in three cities, including the popular vacation spot Cancun and Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border. At times the threats are less violent, but no less effective. Government officials, some believed to be connected to organized crime, file lawsuits or pass self-serving laws to stifle free speech.

Some officials involved are highly placed. Mario Marin, governor of the state of Puebla, was recorded making a threat against journalist Lydia Cacho, who was arrested in Cancun and tortured during the 20-hour trip back to Puebla, the International Press Institute reported. Cacho had written a book revealing that a wealthy industrialist and friend of Marin had connections to a child sex ring.

With the Mexican government unable or unwilling to crack down on organized crime, journalists have been left with unfortunate choices to protect themselves. Newspaper stories, especially those about drug crimes, no longer carry bylines at some newspapers. Personal writing style is even edited out so that the writer cannot be identified. It is believed that Monterrey TV reporter Lopez Candanosa was abducted because of an idle comment about knowledge of criminal activity.

Such self-restraint doesn't serve the purposes of journalism or the goals of an open society. Mexican President Felipe Calderon calls the threat to journalism "an unacceptable situation." That's putting it mildly. Calderon's inability to end the corrupting influence of drug cartels on Mexico's institutions of law suggest a grim struggle ahead for that nation.

The U.S. government and press establishment should do all they can to help our neighbor out of this dilemma. We are fighting to establish a free, democratic society halfway around the world in Iraq. Another urgent battle over our values and security rages right next door.

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 21:30:45]