In one day, on Tuesday, July 10, three Mexican news outlets were attacked with explosives, reported the freedom of expression organization Article 19. At about 4:30 a.m., the newspaper El Norte reported a grenade attack against its office in the city of Monterrey, in northern Mexico. At 6 a.m., the newspaper El Mañana reported an explosion outside of its offices in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. Later on, at 4 p.m., another one of the El Norte newspaper's offices was attacked with a grenade and heavy weapons, reported the newspaper. None of the three attacks injured anyone and only material damages were reported.
This was the second attack against El Mañana this year, and the third attack since 2006. The newspaper's offices are protected by the Mexican military and a note was found near the building signed by a criminal group, according to the newspaper El Universal. Since 2006, El Mañana has stopped publishing news about organized crime after suffering a grenade attack and the killing of its publishing director in 2004. None of these crimes have been investigated yet.
Since 2006, the year in which the war against organized crime and drugs started, 39 attacks against Mexican news outlets with explosives have been registered, according to Article 19.
“We news media outlets reject those actions that seek to intimidate, silence, or force an agenda on us that is not of public interest," said a release by Mexican news outlets that signed the Agreement for the News Coverage of Violence. The news outlets also demanded that the Mexican government investigate crimes against the press and quickly restore the necessary conditions for the practice of journalism.
Mexico is the most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. See this map about attacks against the Mexican press, by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
