Mexican Press Has Freedom of Expression, but at Great Risk

Advocates of press freedom have been watching an alarming trend in Mexico. At least 24 Mexican journalists have been killed during the past six years, and no more than five assailants in these cases have been convicted. And last Friday a Mexican television cameraman, who had worked for Cable News Network, was shot and seriously wounded in Mexico City.

The scenario has become familiar: an outspoken journalist is shot dead on the way to work; colleagues suspect drug traffickers or corrupt government officials whom the dead man exposed; an investigation yields nothing.

The violence has had a direct and dangerous effect on freedom of expression--a valuable gauge of democratic possibilities in any society. As long as reporters feel that they can’t count on seeing attacks against them prosecuted, critical journalism falls flat. To make matters worse, it’s very difficult for a Mexican news outlet to survive independently. For many newspapers and reporters, dependence on the government is virtually institutionalized through advertising, payoffs and federal monopolies on newsprint, ink and satellite technology.

A first step toward ending the bloodshed--documenting the murder cases--has been taken. The Union of Democratic Journalists recently submitted a list of the 29 killings of news people that it has tallied since 1982. The government swiftly responded with an 80-page, case-by-case analysis, differing on many of the details and listing only 24 cases but laying the groundwork for a dialogue.

The government and its critics agree that much of the violence can be blamed on corruption related to the drug trade. Since December, three journalists have been murdered in Sinaloa state alone, one of Mexico’s main drug-trafficking areas.

The dialogue stalls, though, on the question of federal, state and municipal officials’ complicity. The opposition, pressed to quantify direct government corruption, says that chronic government inaction amounts to complicity. “Sometimes the government prefers to pay the cost of the controversy rather than deal with the implications of clarifying the crime,” said Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a political analyst and former reporter. On the other hand, Octavio Campos, the Interior Ministry’s director of information, insists that there has been no willful negligence on the part of the government.

Regardless of its role in investigating abuses, it’s clear that the government maintains a number of unfair newspaper and broadcast advantages. It is widely acknowledged that many officials routinely hand cash to journalists who can guarantee favorable coverage. Proceso magazine, a respected left-of-center publication, recently reported that those accredited to follow the campaign of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party pocketed $40 to $180 in weekly PRI payments and state-by-state bribes.

In addition, the government holds sway over key media resources. A 1984 law gave it the right to control personnel and labor hours related to satellite technology. And though it has been 14 years since the government last used its 53-year-old monopoly on cheap newsprint to close down a Mexican publication, print reporters say that the threat of suspension still ensures a certain degree of self-censorship.

Broadcast news also guarantees the ruling party some measure of support: 90% of all radio and television campaign coverage between November and May was devoted to the PRI, according to the Democratic Assembly for Effective Suffrage, a monitoring group that includes government opponents on the right and left. Government domination of the media fed charges that the party would ensure a fraudulent vote count on July 6.

These institutional advantages must be surrendered--especially if the PRI expects genuine public support.

Another key step would be to pay journalists higher wages. Some weekly salaries are as low as $25, hardly an incentive for turning down payoffs.

For the moment, however, among the new government’s first tasks should be an aggressive effort to prosecute violent crimes against members of the press.

One of the main complaints of Mexican journalists is that they can’t count on enforcement of the law. “The freedom of expression is there,” said a colleague of newspaper columnist Hector (Felix the Cat) Miranda, who was killed in Tijuana on April 20, “but it’s risky to practice it.”