By Ingrid Bachmann
Spanish journalist Judith Torrea has spent 12 years working as an independent journalist. Last year she created the blog “Ciudad Juárez, en la sombra del narcotráfico” (Ciudad Juárez, in the shadow of narcotrafficking), where she reports on the crimes of drug mafias, stories that traditional media aren't always able to report. For this work, she has won the Ortega y Gasset Prize for Digital Journalism, El País reports. See this recent interview with Torrea in English by Salon.com.
The jury recognized “the complete treatment of one of the most grave and brutal dramas of our time," Spain's EFE news service explains. Torrea tells Germany's DPA news agency that the recognition signifies “giving voice to the snatched away voice" in Ciudad Juárez, which has been called the world's most violent city.
Torrea acknowledges that many of her sources have been killed or emigrated to the United States. “But she keeps on there, seeing how many colleagues stay silent, censor themselves, or fall into the networks of political corruption," a separate story in El País says.
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.
