Mexico newspaper bombed into dropping all drug war coverage
July 13th 2012 · 6 Comments
Reuters/Mexico City – A newspaper in Mexico’s violent city of Nuevo Laredo has announced that it will end coverage of drug-related bloodshed, one day after grenades damaged its offices for the second time this year.
Many Mexican news organisations have decided to report only basic facts about murders and massacres in recent years. But it is rare for a newspaper to drop coverage altogether.
Tuesday’s attack on the daily El Manana was among the latest incidents that have made Mexico one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.
El Manana said in an editorial that it was too dangerous to report on the execution-style murders, car bombs and decapitations that have terrorised residents in the city across the border from Laredo, Texas.
“The editorial board of the company has come to this regrettable decision because of the circumstances that we all know about and the lack of conditions to freely carry out journalism,” it said.
“El Manana … does not want to serve the petty interests of any de-facto power or criminal group,” it said.
On Tuesday assailants fired at the newspaper’s main offices with a grenade launcher, damaging the building but causing no injuries. A similar attack occurred on May 11.
The city south of the Rio Grande has seen a surge in violence in recent months as the brutal Zetas cartel battle rivals for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes.
In one recent incident, 14 severed heads were dumped on the street close to Nuevo Laredo’s town hall in ice boxes.
Cartel gunmen across Mexico have been known to attack journalists over unfavourable coverage, as well as pressure reporters to cover mass murders they carry out.
With a lack of mainstream media coverage, some have turned to social media to post information.
But the cartels have even killed people and left notes near their bodies to warn against posting on the Internet.
A version of this column originally appeared in www.gulf-times.com.
A version of this column originally appeared in www.topix.com.
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Tags: Assailants, Bloodshed, Car Bombs, Cartels, Continue, coverage, Criminal Group, Dangerous Places, Decapitations, drug smuggling, Drug War, El Manana, Execution Style Murders, Grenade Launcher, Grenades, Laredo Texas, Mainstream Media Coverage, Mass Murders, Mexican News, Mexico City, Mexico Newspaper, Mexicos, Nuevo Laredo, reading, Reuters, Rio Grande, Second Time, time, Violent City, War Coverage, Zetas Cartel
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the roughest of the mexicans have taken controll of mexco so more and more are illegal crossing our border and our government is lying about the increased number flowing ” over the open border.”they are here illegally killing innoncent americans every day with their dui’s hit & runs , straight up murer, rape. they are allowed to run back to mexico for a week and they come back to commit a repeat and again they are left to jumpp the border. it has got to stop…
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oh my word!
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Money talks!
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Sounds like the United States
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Sounds like the United States
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but theee border, sheee ees bery safe, senora Nappieeee
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