Italian journalist and professor Giovanni Proiettis, a resident of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas for 18 years, was summarily deported back to his home country April 15, Proceso reports.
Violence in Saltillo has increased in recent months, putting us in new risky situations where social media is a way to break the silence enforced by criminal groups. It is not the best substitute, but considering the lack of protection journalists in Coahuila state have, there is no other option.
In the face of the threats and dangers journalists confront as increasing violence rocks Mexico, various initiatives have emerged as part of an effort to help protect reporters: group coverage so no one journalist can be singled out, bullet-proof vests, and even self censorship. The most recent protection measure is an accord with guidelines specifying how to cover the drug war.
Nine journalists from around the world, including two who work in Latin America, have been named 2011-2012 International Knight Fellows, the Knight fellowship program announced. The U.S. fellows will be announced May 2.
Spanish journalist Judith Torrea, author of the blog Ciudad Juárez, en la Sombra del Narcotráfico (Ciudad Juárez, in the Shadow of Drug Trafficking), won the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom award and was selected to be one of the 2011-12 International Knight Fellows.
Enrique Hernández Padrón and Graciela Castañón Aguilar, former reporters for El Portal in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosí, say they were fired under pressure from the state government to keep from losing advertising money, Mexico’s National Social Communication Center (CENCOS) reports.
The newest edition of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America, is dedicated to journalism in the Americas, with stories by renowned journalists focusing on such topics as the dangers of reporting in Mexico, the possibilities of incorporating new digital technologies, censorship and threats to freedom of expression.
Thousands demonstrated in the streets of Mexico’s biggest cities against the wave of drug trafficking violence that has left 35,000 dead since 2006. The protests were organized by writer and journalist Javier Sicilla, whose son was one of seven people killed this week in the city of Cuernavaca, Mileno and CDN report.
Mexican journalist Alejandro Suverza was arrested in the Mexico City airport, allegedly carrying $57,000 inside packs of gum and other items, El Universal reports.
Reforma, one of Mexico’s biggest newspapers and a pioneer in charging for online content, is studying ways to charge for its mobile content, a top executive revealed.
Journalists from violent Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and from Managua, Nicaragua, report being attacked by police while performing their journalistic duties.
For the third time since September, a division of Grupo Reforma-owned newspaper El Norte was hit with a grenade in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Vanguardia reports.