Journalists Face Threat of Death Like Never Before in Mexico
Mario Segura, a Mexican reporter, created a website for citizens to alert each other about violence and corruption. He was kidnapped and beaten. Emilio Lugo’s news site reported on crime in Acapulco that newspapers had suppressed. His home was broken into. Veronica Basurto interviewed kidnappers about holes in the justice system. Her life was threatened.
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Mario Segura, a Mexican reporter, created a website for citizens to alert each other about violence and corruption. He was kidnapped and beaten. Emilio Lugo’s news site reported on crime in Acapulco that newspapers had suppressed. His home was broken into. Veronica Basurto interviewed kidnappers about holes in the justice system. Her life was threatened.
Journalism in Mexico has long come with risks. But in recent months the danger has risen to unprecedented levels. Hundreds of writers and editors are now living underground in a government-sponsored program and publishing privately. Despite such precautions, 2015 looks set to break records for the number of Mexican journalists murdered.