Twenty-six reporters—12 from Mexico and 14 from the United States— participated March 26-27 in the McCormick Foundation's Specialized Reporting Institute: Cross-border Coverage of U.S.–Mexico Drug Trafficking. The seminar took place in Austin and was organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
The event united reporters from leading U.S. media organizations including The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times, with colleagues from Mexican news outlets such as Proceso magazine, El Universal, and regional media from the cities of Ciudad Juárez, Torreón, Nuevo Laredo and Hermosillo.
Presentations were also made by representatives of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, Stratfor Global Intelligence, the University of Texas at Austin, and Human Rights Watch.
The participants discussed a range of issues relating to covering the drug trade while remaining safe. They agreed in the end to work to strengthen cross-border ties among colleagues, and to explore new publishing platforms and forms of journalism that would allow news to flow even when information blackouts are threatened.
Read more about the event in this story by journalist Mónica Medel.
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.
