17 November 2004
CPJ INVESTIGATES TIJUANA MURDER
For Jesús Blancornelas, editor of Mexico's muckraking newspaper "Zeta," the price for investigating Tijuana's powerful drug cartels has been very high. He is a virtual prisoner, moving only between home and office accompanied by 20 heavily armed bodyguards. Three "Zeta" staff members have been murdered, the most recent being Blancornelas' co-editor, Francisco Ortiz Franco, gunned down in front of his children in June 2004.
In a special report, "Free-Fire Zone," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) investigates the Ortiz Franco murder and the conditions under which journalists work in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana. Based on interviews with police investigators, prosecutors, analysts and journalists during a recent week-long mission, the report draws a picture of journalists caught in a bloody war between rival drug cartels.
CPJ says official corruption in Tijuana has had a profound impact on the press. "Many of the sources journalists use in Tijuana, from police to government officials, have links to the [drug] cartels and a vested interest in passing along to the media damaging information about rival organizations. Though cognizant of the overall risks, journalists are typically unaware of the specific relationships."
Read the full report here: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/tijuana/tijuana.html
Visit:
- Center for Journalism and Public Ethics : http://www.cepet.org/index.html- Mexican Journalists Say "Enough!": http://www.cepet.org/pndeclara.htm- Inter American Press Association: http://www.sipiapa.org/pulications/impu_mexico2004o.cfm