27 Aug 13 | Index Reports, Mexico, News and features
(Photo illustration: Shutterstock)
Mexico was transformed in 2000, when the National Action Party, PAN, was elected to power, ending a 70 year control by the Institutionally Revolutionary Party, PRI.
During the PRI years, self censorship was rampant in the country, as the government imposed a heavy handed control of the national media. PAN candidates ruled for the next 12 years, from 2000 to 2012. But the PRI returned to power last December, due to electorate fatigue with former President Felipe Calderon’s war on drugs.
The country has faced increasing challenges from organized crime gangs that were targeted during the Calderon government and it has had serious impacts on press freedoms in the Mexican provinces, where most media recoiled from reporting on organized crime-related violence.
In the move to control organized crime groups, the Mexican government has increased its surveillance capacity. It has also engaged in human rights violations, which according to international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, have only exacerbated the security situation.
There is little media regulation and zero artistic censorship. But in the name of protecting the state from organized crime, the government has introduced various edicts and laws that could affect the rights of citizens.
In March 2012, the Mexican Congress approved new legislation that gave police more access to online information. Also between 2011 and 2012, the Secretariat of National Defense, which controls the Mexican Armed Forces, purchased advanced domestic surveillance equipment. The new equipment includes mobile phone and online communications software that can be openly used to monitor Mexican citizens.
In 2012, the government of the State of Veracruz introduced a public nuisance law that sends to jail any social media member who uses Twitter or Facebook to warn fellow citizens about violence. The law was set in place because two Twitter users warned state residents of shootouts that turned out to be false alarms, but had the city of Veracruz traumatized by the alleged reports. The problem remains that bloggers, and social media users have become alternative sources of information because the traditional media in at least half of the territory of Mexico are afraid of reporting on drug related violence.
Drug traffickers also retaliated against social media users. They killed at least two bloggers in the northern state of Taumalipas and also two Twitter users, whose bodies were never identified and were found hanging from a bridge overpass. Two websites that made a name for themselves by running stories and reports on drug trafficking activities around the country were forced to shut down because of direct attacks.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have been extremely useful sources of information in Mexico. Abuses of authority against indigenous people or by children of the powerful and well-connected have been exposed in videos that turn viral in the web and have helped to right wrongs that would have gone unnoticed otherwise.
Several laws have been passed that are supposed to help people affected by the war on drugs. There is a General Victims law that was approved by Congress by which is still not implemented. Similarly, Congress approved a federal protection mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists, but the law has been criticized by freedom of the press organizations, as having few resources and focus.
Mexico declared federal defamation laws illegal in 2007, however, about a dozen states still have those on the books. At the federal level, a person can still sue an author for moral damage. At least two critical book writers, who have written books accusing government officials of corruption, have been hit with lawsuits in the last two years.
Media ownership remains potent in Mexico. Several dozen national newspapers are published daily, and many more digital news outlets have opened in the last two years.
What was not opened until June 2013 was broadcast media. Only two news outlets were for long able to transmit television signals nationally through open television channels. They were Televisa and Television Azteca, which are owned by two of Mexico’s wealthiest citizens. However, with a new Telecommunications law that was approved by Congress in June 2013, Mexico will be able to have two more open signal channels. Another wealthy Mexican, Carlos Slim, who owns an internet-based television network called Uno Noticias will probably benefit from the new law. The new legislation will also promote the installation of a broadband Internet network nationwide.
There are 41 million Mexicans who use the internet, according to the Mexican Association of Internet. The states with the highest number of internet users are in Mexico City, State of Mexico and State of Jalisco. The average daily use of the web ranges from four hours to nine minutes. More than 90 percent of all Mexicans using the internet also use social media.
Artistic Freedom
Artists have enjoyed unprecedented freedom to be creative in Mexico. The only problem lies with the commercial theatre network, which tends to not keep Mexican made movies long enough in exhibition. One movie that is critical of the legal system in Mexico City and the tradition by local police of grabbing innocent people and accusing them of murder and other crimes, Presumed Guilty, has faced serious challenges because of what appears to be an alleged concerted campaign by a Mexico City legal group that has stopped the film from showing in the country because of multiple lawsuits brought on by people who are shown on the film, and who never signed an agreement to appear in the movie.
This article was originally published on 27 Aug, 2013 at indexoncensorship.org
20 Jun 13 | Americas
Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, promised in London yesterday that tackling crime and drug-related violence is a priority for his six-month-old government. While improving safety is important, Peña Nieto must also remember that protecting journalists and human rights workers must go beyond words, says Sara Yasin
Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico giving a speech at an awards ceremony in 2012
Speaking at Chatham House, a foreign relations think tank, Peña Nieto delivered a lecture outlining his general aims for addressing Mexico’s economic problems.
I was most interested in what Peña Nieto had to say about security: He listed lowering violence as a priority for his administration, and he has previously stated that he ambitiously aims to halve Mexico’s murder rate by the end of his six-year term.
When asked about human rights violations, Peña Nieto said that his administration’s “commitment is clear”, and even claimed that the country has already seen a reduction in violations during his six months in office.
In April this year, the Mexican government approved legislation broadening the jurisdiction of the country’s federal authorities, in order to prosecute crimes against freedom of expression.
Peña Nieto’s rosy overtures of peace and safety yesterday most certainly aren’t enough, as speaking out in Mexico comes at a price: In the first 100 days of the new president’s time in office, there have been 56 attacks against journalists, and 36 against human rights defenders, as well as one assassination. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 28 journalists have been slain between 1992 and 2013.
It might be too soon to really evaluate the new legislation, but journalist Anabel Hernandez says that Peña Nieto “has no interest in either solving the murders of journalists or protecting them while they continue working in the country.”
Hernandez, well-known for exposing government corruption, was warned in 2010 of a high-level police officer’s plot to murder her. She has received 24-hour protection from armed guards ever since, but it looks like that will be changing soon. Hernandez told Vice Magazine that she received a letter from Mexico City’s government in April notifying her that she would no longer be allowed an armed escort, and that her protection will now be transferred to federal police — the same officers that she says have been threatening her and her sources.
The journalist reached out to the Secretary of Interior after receiving the letter, in order to press them to take her safety seriously. Hernandez has been “physically targeted in the past two years”, and her family members have also faced threats. The new programme only offers her a “panic button” which she says “does nothing to aid in the pursuit of the attackers.”
She also said that the programme “is being used simply to put on a show for the outside world. It’s a means to save face internationally. Keeping up international relations is more important than addressing freedom of expression.”
Local activists are currently pushing on the administration to stress the importance of human rights defenders and journalists, and take adequate measures to protect them.
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
20 May 13 | Americas, News and features
The former journalist asks not to use his real name. So I will call him Francisco. He had been at the height of his career in 2007, in the vibrant city of Torreon, in northern Mexico, when he received a call from an unknown man, Ana Arana reports.
The man said he wanted to drink “lemonade” with him, slang he knew drug traffickers used when they wanted to discuss something with journalists. The journalist drove to a meeting place outside the city. There he found other colleagues who had also been summoned. The man showed them a newspaper story. “Here you say we fled a scene,” he said angrily, “we never flee, we are not cowards, and you can’t use that word to describe our activities,” he emphasized, showing the story in a newspaper.
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15 May 13 | Politics and Society, United Nations
Journalists, human rights activists and government representatives are gathered this week in San José, Costa Rica for the 20th annual World Press Freedom Day.
Every 3 May, UNESCO hosts a series of panels, workshops and ceremonies to evaluate global press freedom and to honour journalists who have been attacked, imprisoned or died for their work. This year’s theme is on promoting safety and ending impunity for journalists, bloggers, media workers and everyday citizens who cross red lines to speak their minds.
Most of the first day’s sessions provided analysis of the dangers journalists face. More than 600 journalists have been killed in the line of duty over the past decade, and in only 10 per cent of cases have those responsible for their deaths been punished.
In societies where journalists feel unsafe or where attacks against them go unpunished, a culture of self censorship often emerges. Javier Darío Restrepo, a journalist and writer from Colombia, said journalists self censor to survive, but in doing so they cease to be a voice of the powerless in their societies. Building on that point, OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media Dunja Mijatović described the right of journalists to carry out their work without fear — an important prerequisite for media freedom in society.
One common reference on day one of the conference was the recently published UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. The plan calls on UN agencies, member states, NGOs and media organisations to work together in promoting the safety of journalists and raising awareness of the primary threats they face. On a panel, speakers from Nepal, Pakistan, Colombia and Mexico discussed obstacles and opportunities for implementing the plan in their countries.
Adnan Rehmat, executive director at Intermedia Pakistan, said the main issues facing press freedom in his country are that attacks on journalists are not recognised as attacks on freedom of expression. One positive development he mentioned was the establishment of a Pakistan Journalist Safety Fund to provide assistance for journalists in distress.
In the same discussion, Andrés Morales, executive director of La Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa in Colombia, cited a recent attack on noted Colombian investigative journalist Ricardo Calderon as indicative of the wider problems facing journalists in the region and around the world. Colombia has seen a marked decline in the number of journalists murdered in the past decade, which he attributes in part to a protection programme for journalists but also to self censorship. Many journalists believe that if they don’t write about sensitive issues, they won’t be punished for their words.
In a panel devoted specifically to freedom of expression in Costa Rica, local journalist Mauricio Herrera Ullola outlined some of the greatest obstacles media professionals face in his country today. By some measures, Costa Rica’s press can be considered free.
But “crimes against honour” are still prosecuted criminally and carry a penalty of up to 100 days in prison if someone feels personally insulted by a journalist’s story. Herrera Ullola said that media ownership is very concentrated, self-censorship is common, and current laws around slander and libel can be chilling in Costa Rica. He also said the country needs freedom of information laws to promote greater transparency and access to public records.
Several speakers described great improvements for the rights of women, indigenous populations, youth and sexual minorities across Latin America in recent decades, but agreed that many countries in the region still have work to do to ensure full freedom of expression. Colombia and Mexico are both on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ top 10 list of deadliest countries for journalists, a clear sign that freedom of expression remains under attack in the region.
In a poignant moment during the conference’s first day, one delegate asked whether journalists dying on the job is an occupational hazard; an unavoidable price society must pay for good journalism and ultimately for the truth. Adnan Rehmat from Intermedia Pakistan responded: “The price of journalism should not be more than feeling tired after a long day’s work.”
Brian Pellot is Index on Censorship’s Digital Policy Adviser. UNESCO’s three days of events for World Press Freedom Day in Costa Rica complement dozens of local and regional events around the world. Follow Brian on Twitter @brianpellot (along with the hashtags #wpfd and #pressfreedom) as he reports on the rest of the conference, and read the full programme of events in Costa Rica here.
