Main article: List of journalists killed in the Mexican Drug War
In the first years of the 21st century, Mexico was considered the most dangerous country in the world to practice journalism, according to groups like the National Human Rights Commission,Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Between 2000 and 2012, several dozen journalists were murdered there for covering narco-related news.[183][184][185]
Offices of Televisa and of local newspapers have been bombed.[186] The cartels have also threatened to kill news reporters in the U.S. who have done coverage on the drug violence.[187] Some media networks simply stopped reporting on drug crimes, while others have been infiltrated and corrupted by drug cartels.[188][189] In 2011, Notiver journalist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco and his wife and son were murdered in their home.[190]
About 74 percent of the journalists killed since 1992 in Mexico have been reporters for print newspapers, followed in number by Internet media and radio at about 11 percent each. Television journalism only includes 4 percent of the deaths.[191] These numbers are not proportional to the audience size of the different mediums; most Mexican households have a television, a large majority have a radio, but only a small number have the internet, and the circulation numbers for Mexican newspapers are relatively low.[192][193][194] There is no clear explanation of why a medium that reaches a much smaller portion of the population is statistically much more dangerous.[citation needed]
Since harassment neutralized many of the traditional media outlets, anonymous blogs like Blog del Narco took on the role of reporting on events related to the drug war.[195] The drug cartels responded by murdering bloggers and social media users. Twitter users have been tortured and killed for posting and denouncing information of the drug cartels activities.[196] In September 2011, user NenaDLaredo of the website Nuevo Laredo Envivo was murdered allegedly by the Zetas.[197]
In May 2012 several journalist murders occurred in Veracruz. Regina Martinez of Proceso was murdered in Xalapa. A few days later, three Veracruz photojournalists were tortured and killed and their dismembered bodies were dumped in a canal. They had worked for various news outlets, including Notiver, Diario AZ, and TV Azteca. Human rights groups condemned the murders and demanded the authorities investigate the crimes
Proceso magazine’s Regina Martinez was found dead in her Veracruz, Mexico home over the weekend, apparently beaten and strangled.
It is too soon to know who killed her or why, but her death was brutal and she was known for reporting on crime and drug trafficking in a state that like other parts of Mexico has been rife with violence.
Authorities have vowed to thoroughly investigate the case, but murders are rarely solved in Mexico, and when they are, there are many doubts that authorities have even charged the right person.
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