On Sept. 16, Luis Carlos Santiago, a staff photographer for El Diario, a newspaper based in Juarez, was gunned down and murdered at a mall in broad daylight.
His partner was able to escape with his life, but was severely injured. Two days following Santiago’s death, the paper published a front page editorial titled, “What do you want from us?” directed toward the cartels.
“It’s asking the leaders of the Plaza, and this is the territories that are run by island cartels, that in this war between them and the government we are in the middle, under fire, and we’re not getting a clear message, why are they killing our journalists?” asked Gerardo Rodriguez, an editor for El Diario.
“It is impossible for us to do our job under these conditions. Tell us, then, what do you expect from us as a newspaper?”
News editor Rocio Gallegos said, “The editorial was aimed as much at the government as drug lords. We are alone here. There is no state of law.” These deaths are widely known and beginning to capture the attention of many other countries including the U.S, England, Canada and South American countries.
Yet, the Mexican government continues to be ineffective in stopping these murderers and bringing justice to those killed. Back in 2008, Armando Rodriquez, a crime reporter for El Diario, was shot and killed outside his home while his daughter watched from the sideline.
The president promised to have this murder solved, yet two years have gone by and still no conclusion has been made. Only three percent of drug-related murders ever make it to court, and less than that actually get solved.
This brings to question: how should journalists report on drug-related news? Should they completely ignore it? How should they tread upon such a risky topic? In its editorial, El Diario was not necessarily backing off and deciding to censor their reporting, they were merely trying to shed some light into the reason why their journalists were being killed off by sending out a message to the drug cartels asking “what do you want from us?”
The paper has been getting calls from all over the world about how courageous it is for continuing to report on the drug wars when otherwise it would have been a lot easier to censor such reporting.
Reporters Without Borders, an organization that recognizes and fights for press freedom and human rights all over the world, compiles an annual ranking of countries in terms of their freedom of press.
As of 2009, Mexico is ranked 137 out of 175, making it the most dangerous country in the western hemisphere for media journalists. Instead of folding, the El Diario staff have now embraced bulletproof vests and bought life insurance, and will continue to report everything and anything.
