News that a 21-year-old photography intern was shot to death Thursday in Ciudad Juárez, and that his 18-year-old colleague was wounded, increased the sense of urgency for members of 40 journalist training and safety organizations who gathered in Austin, Texas, Friday and Saturday (Sept. 17–18) for the 8th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas. The annual gathering focuses this year on the coverage of drug trafficking and organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.
A photographer from the newspaper El Diario de Juárez was shot to death Thursday, Sept. 16, in a mall parking lot in Ciudad Juarez, ground zero for the drug trafficking violence in Mexico and just along the border with the United States, according to CNN. Another photographer, an intern at the newspaper, was seriously injured in the shoooting, according to the Associated Press.
After being arrested and threatened for reporting on a pedophile ring, Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho has been named the recipient of the PEN International Writer of Courage Prize, according to the Associated Press (AP). She will be honored at an awards presentation in London on Oct. 20.
The latest e-book from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas now is available to download for free. The book, Journalism in Times of Threats, Censorship and Violence, is a report from the seminar “Cross-border Coverage of U.S.–Mexico Drug Trafficking” held March 26-27, 2010, at the University of Texas at Austin.
Alejandro Hernández Pacheco, a cameraman for Televisa who was kidnapped by alleged drug traffickers in July, is in the U.S. seeking asylum for himself, his wife, and his two kids, CNN reports.
A female reporter for Mexico's TV Azteca was harassed by football players and a coach during the New York Jets' practice on Saturday, Sept. 11, reported the Associated Press (AP).
Journalist associations and Mexican authorities from Chihuahua, a state along the border with the United States that is one of the most violent zones in the world for journalists because of drug trafficking-related violence, signed on Sept. 6 the first safety protocol for journalists who cover high-risk news, according to Masnoticias and Tiempo.
Marcelo Tejero Ocampo, a 64-year-old radio journalist, was found dead the morning of Sept. 7 in his home in the town of Carmen in the state of Campeche, reported El Universal.
“Silence or Death in Mexico's Press” is the title of the just-released 2010 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report is an accounting of the crisis in freedom of expression and access to information resulting from surging organized crime, violence and corruption.
One day after a shooting attack in Mazatlán, the newspaper Noroeste received new threatening phone calls, including messages demanding $15,000 in exchange for not blowing up the newspaper's building, reported EFE and Noroeste. Employees were evacuated because of the threats.
The outside of the newspaper Noroeste in the city of Mazatlán was attacked at dawn by an organized crime group just hours after threatening calls were made to the publication, reported the agency DPA and Noroeste.
The Mexican press has become a target for drug-related violence, prompting a company to promote its bullet-proof vests as a way of protecting members of the media, according to Clarín and news agencies.