How is it possible to report in a country regarded as one of the most dangerous places for a journalist to operate? Answer: do it secretly; do it online; and do it remotely.
According to a Christian Science Monitor article, a Mexican reporter called AJ Espinoza worked out this safe way of working some two years ago.
He teamed up with a US-based reporter in order to write stories he thinks fellow Mexicans should read. But they appear in a US-based outlet rather than his local newspaper.
In that way, he can safely report on the activities of the drug cartels that plague the Mexico-US border region where he operates. Espinoza is quoted as saying: “No one else needs to know that I’m doing this.”
He formed a partnership with Ildefonso Ortiz, a reporter for Breitbart along the Texas-Mexico border, who says that people who don’t live in the region find it “hard to grasp that in cities like Matamoros or Reynosa, organised crime has complete control [over the media]”.
Celeste González de Bustamante, an associate professor at Arizona university who studies the effects of violence on journalism, says:
“Newsrooms started waiting for the green light to publish. But the green or red light wasn’t coming from the owner of the paper or managers, but from members of organised crime.” Editors “have to answer to two bosses: the publishers and the cartels.”
Newspapers have come up with creative ways to overcome the problem. El Mañana, one of the oldest newspapers in the region, will occasionally run a sensitive story from Tamaulipas on the front page of its neighbouring Nuevo Leon-based edition, while burying the story locally.
Others have tried to adapt by creating alternative publications that come out less frequently. And some outlets will sometimes risk publishing or broadcasting stories that implicate cartel activity, but will omit bylines or cite hard-to-trace Twitter users as sources.
Ortiz said: “For people not on the border, it’s hard to grasp that in cities like Matamoros or Reynosa, organised crime has complete control. It’s like an alternative form of government. They control the media; they boss around politicians and the government.”
Last year, Ortiz and his Breitbart editor developed a project called the Cartel Chronicles, which is published in both English and Spanish.
But there are still risks, even when working anonymously. In 2014, a crusading Twitter user who publicised details of cartel violence in Tamaulipas was kidnapped and murdered.
Despite those dangers, Espinoza says teaming with Ortiz is worth it. “If no one knows what’s really happening, how can the situation ever change?”
Source: Christian Science Monitor
