On being a journalist in Mexico
By Paola Velasco and Francisco Peyret
Journalism is the profession that gathers information on topics that impact people’s lives, and communicates that to the public. This can be done via print, digitally, or broadcast. Journalists’ research is presented via reports, newscasts, chronicles, columns, and reviews. Journalism is essential to society.
Within traditional journalism there are different types, which cover various aspects of life that impact society, reach varied audiences, and meet different requirements to objectively report the facts. There are several types of journalism: investigative, digital, political, radio and television, sports, arts and culture, and photojournalism.
But with the advent of the Internet and social networks, journalism is also changing, and a number of YouTube channels and blogs have emerged, with more creative methods and styles, competing for followers with traditional sources of communication, which are now constantly questioned.
We cannot forget the role played by the Internet and social networks in the popular movement known as the «Arab Spring,» which began in early 2011 with the uprising of thousands of young people in Tunisia against former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, an event that encouraged similar anti-government protests in most Arab countries.
Since the work of journalists is very important to societies, they have been internationally awarded Journalists’ Day on September 8. «International Journalists’ Day was established to be celebrated every September 8 by the First National Congress of Journalists held in Cordoba, Argentina, in 1938. It was initially established in memory of the first regional print media with a pro-independence, patriotic character, but a few years later, after the end of World War II, the international journalistic guild chose to pay tribute to the Czech journalist Julius Fucik, who was executed by the Nazis on September 8, 1943. His «Report at the Foot of the Gallows» was taken page by page from prison and published in 1945. It was widely distributed internationally and has been translated into more than eighty languages. Fucik was posthumously awarded the International Peace Prize in 1950 (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos México).
Journalism in Mexico
During the second part of the last century, Mexican journalism was strongly controlled by federal and state governments. In our country it was very difficult to question the system, even when there were independent voices, and within the traditional media that posed intelligent questions to national events; but the truth is that in those times it was unthinkable what is happening today with the media, especially in social networks and YouTube, the crossfire battle is spectacular.
The danger that journalism is currently facing is that big corporations are buying big media outlets that easily turn news trends into propaganda. Fortunately, it seems that the electronic channels of communication have become the counterculture in search of the truth behind every story, it seems to be a sort of guerrilla against the great monsters of communication.
In Mexico, freedom of expression has improved notably, but not all colleagues are equally fortunate.
So far in 2022, 16 journalists have been killed in Mexico. This is more than in all of 2021, and the highest number ever. This year the murders have taken place in the states of Baja California, Sonora, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Sinaloa, Zacatecas, Guerrero and Tamaulipas. In Mexico, violence against journalists seriously undermines freedom of expression. Unfortunately, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists to work in, with many journalists murdered each year. The authorities seldom solve these murders or prosecute those responsible. In fact, most crimes in Mexico go unpunished. The Mexican Federal Government does not provide the necessary protection to human rights defenders and journalists. In 2010, the office of the Special Prosecutor in charge of crimes committed against freedom of expression was created. However, out of 105 investigations, only six cases of murdered journalists have resulted in convictions. Faced with these acts of violence, many journalists resort to self-censorship.
References: hrw.org
