Status: Partly Free
Legal Environment: 13 (of 30)
Political Environment: 25 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 13 (of 30)
Total Score: 51 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)
Drug-related violence further undermined Mexico's press freedom in 2007 as attacks on journalists spread geographically. Impunity remained the norm, and self-censorship expanded. Further, the Supreme Court blocked a politically sensitive prosecution in the case of a threatened journalist and the firing of a critical radio journalist raised questions about broadcast concentration. On the positive side, the government did away with criminal defamation, libel and slander statutes at the federal level and the Supreme Court threw out provisions of the country's controversial broadcast reform.
An important development occurred when President Felipe Calderón and the Congress ended criminal prosecution of defamation, libel and slander, moving them into the civil code. However, most states still criminalize these allegations, and in past years politicians have used state statutes to pressure critics. More controversially, the Supreme Court cleared Puebla Gov. Mario Marín of wrongdoing in the arbitrary arrest and harassment of journalist Lydia Cacho, who had linked Marín to a businessman accused of child prostitution. The ruling outraged journalist groups, and provoked the resignation of the federal prosecutor of crimes against women. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recommended Cacho seek refuge abroad to prevent further violations. A report in Spain's El País suggested big broadcasters had abandoned critical coverage of Cacho as part of a political deal. Finally, the firing of critical radio host Carmen Aristegui for refusing to follow unspecified orders from W Radio owners Televisa and Grupo Prisa of Spain renewed criticism of editorial manipulation for corporate advantage. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to discuss the case at a hearing on media ownership concentration.
Most of the worst press violence was linked to an expanding drug cartel dispute. Three reporters and three newspaper deliverymen were murdered in connection with their work; three more journalists disappeared and two others survived shootings. Killings marred four states, including two far from the violent border region. Pursuing gunmen killed La Opinión de Michoacán reporter Gerardo Israel García Dec. 10 in Uruapan, Michoacán, a new trafficking hub. Mateo Cortés Martínez, Agustín López Nolasco, and Flor Vásquez López, all workers for the Oaxaca daily El Imparcial del Istmo, were shot Oct. 8 inside their newspaper delivery truck. The newspaper's editor had received emails warning him to reduce drug coverage. Interdiario crime reporter Saúl Noé Martínez Ortega was found dead near Agua Prieta, Sonora on the Arizona border April 23 after being kidnapped by gunmen. Broadcaster Amado Ramírez was murdered when leaving work April 6 near Acapulco's main square. Police charged suspects, but the case weakened when a witness recanted, Reporters Without Borders reported. In addition, three journalists, TV Azteca correspondent Gamaliel López and cameraman Gerardo Paredes and Tabasco Hoy crime reporter Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, disappeared in 2007, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The cases were linked to reporting on drug trafficking.
Media received all kinds of threats; gruesomely, severed heads of local people were delivered to two newspapers in Veracruz and Tabasco. This atmosphere took an obvious toll on coverage. Some examples: Hermosillo's Cambio Sonora newspaper closed after two grenade attacks; Ramirez' Acapulco radio program ended; Reporters at Oaxaca's El Imparcial del Istmo all quit; and big dailies in metropolitan Monterrey eliminated reporters' bylines on drug stories and now adhere to official police narratives. The San Antonio Express News removed its border reporter after U.S. government sources received a report that traffickers were targeting a foreign journalist. The foreign correspondents association urged correspondents to be especially cautious. A compounding problem was the abundance of drug money. As with police officers, journalists also face the dilemma of plata o plomo, receiving silver or lead, and some journalists worried drug money would taint their profession.
Through all of this, government inaction on press cases persisted. The creation of a special federal prosecutor's office for crimes against the press in 2006 has led to no successful prosecutions. Authorities blamed lack of resources and jurisdictional problems, but had not strengthened the office as of December. The many pending cases include the murder of U.S. documentarian Bradley Will in Oaxaca City. Will died filming political disturbances in 2006. The case stands out because photographers published pictures of the apparent gunmen – identified as city workers- firing at Will. No serious investigations have resulted, press groups charge.
There is a diversity of perspectives represented in media in the largest cities, less so in smaller states and the countryside. Television remains limited because of the duopoly (Televisa and TV Azteca) that has dominated Mexican broadcasting since the authoritarian era. A positive development occurred, however, when the Supreme Court tossed out provisions of a 2006 reform of the broadcasting law that critics said would have consolidated ownership concentration into the digital age and left non-commercial broadcasters in limbo. Congressional follow-up was slow to materialize, however. There are about 300 independently owned newspapers. The government does not restrict the internet, which was used by 22 percent of the population.
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