A black screen, black omen for Mexico's journalism

Something unusual happened yesterday on Mexican television.

For one hour Thursday night, the screen went black during a prime-time national program called “Punto de Partida,” a news analysis program anchored by journalist Denise Maerker.  Televisa, the largest media company in Mexico and the second-largest company in Latin America, produces the news show.

This was not a technical problem. On the contrary, it was the result of a well-thought and conscious decision to not transmit a signal to protest the recent kidnapping of four journalists in the northern state of Durango.

Three of the journalists have been missing since July 26, when they were kidnapped (levantados in Spanish) while reporting in an area known as la Comarca Lagunera, where drug trafficking and organized crime has imposed its own rules.  A fourth journalist was released yesterday.

As long as I can remember, this is the first time that an aggression against journalists provoked a reaction such as the one displayed yesterday by Maerker.  And it is the first time that Televisa, usually very supportive of the government, has backed up a protest in its programming.

Another anchor, Ciro Gómez Leyva, also suspended his news presentation on Milenio Television to protest the kidnappings. He complained that journalism has become a hostage of organized crime.

He is right. In fact, journalism has become another victim of the war against drugs. This year, 10 journalists have been killed in different parts of Mexico. Last year, the number of journalists killed was 12.  Many were tortured before being shot.

In many states and cities where organized crime reigns –Tamaulipas, Torreón, Durango and Sinaloa to mention a few– journalists have been silenced with threats. Many journalists ask themselves if it is worth it to risk their lives to cover an issue that involves politics, corruption and money.

Many have responded that they do not think it is worth the risk, and we must respect their decisions. But other journalists still believe that information is one of the most valuable assets of a democracy, and that giving up the right to inform and to be informed is equivalent to giving up democracy.

In her statement yesterday, Maerker said that journalists are not more important than the rest of Mexico’s citizens, but they have a mission to inform. “Under the current circumstances, they can’t do their jobs,” she said.

Maerker went on to ask authorities to take responsibility for the current situation. “We can’t pretend that nothing is happening. It is happening,” Maerker said.

The broadcast of a black screen yesterday was a symbol of protest, but it also can be seen as a bad omen of what could happen to freedom of expression if journalism is taken hostage.

Comments

[Guy Fawkes]

These dead and kidnapped journalists should be honored as heroes by the public and the media community as well. I understand not wanting to take the risk and that's fine but these journalist believed in investigating and exposing something terrible and that is something their families should be quite proud of. Their unflinching search for the truth is an inspiration to this aspiring journalist.

[alice from ky]

The sad reality is that wishing, hoping, praying, honoring, or any other type of emotional involvement changes nothing. Unless the emotion spills into action. Wish in one hand and spit in the other, as my mother used to say. Which gets full faster? I do agree that they are heroic. In this country, a hero can be a comic book character. You can see who blasphemed the word is. Saludos.

[bike1boulevard89]

All these Mexican journalists should be appauled for their feerless efforts to expose all the corruption and aggression aimed at them for upholding the upmost of professionalism and valiently trying to maintain freedom of speech which is the very essence of true journalism and basic democratic rights for all it's citizens. If they do not impress this to their Government and place responsibility on it's judicial system, then they will become another communist country with no voice for it's people.