Abstract
When the headless corpses of a young couple were found in a burning car in one of Mexico City’s most exclusive shopping malls, the story made the front pages. If the bodies had been abandoned in a low-income neighborhood, as has been the trend, the news would have only been published as a small sidebar in a much less prominent position.
Mexico today is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. As drug-related violence spreads throughout the country, reporters continue to work under extreme circumstances. Since 2000, more than 70 journalists have been killed in attacks carried out by organised criminal gangs battling over drug routes to the United States amidst a growing international drug market. Most of the threats affect the provincial media; in comparison, the national press based in Mexico City has faced few security problems.
In 2010, an investigatión conducted by Fundación de Periodismo de Investigación (MEPI) discovered that the regional press recoiled from reporting on violence in much of the country because of fear of reprisals. In 2010, newspapers published only three out of 10 stories about organised crime. But in 2011 there was a surprising turnaround. A MEPI report revealed that the regional press began bouncing back, with crime reporting largely restored, even in very violent cities such as Veracruz.
At MEPI, we monitored daily newspapers in 16 states, representing 65 per cent of the country, and found the change in reporting practices to be remarkable. The number of stories reporting on crime increased around the country. There were exceptions: in states like Tamaulipas in eastern Mexico, the press has been gripped by self-censorship after two criminal groups repeatedly harassed and threatened reporters, bloggers and those using social media to report on and spread information about criminal activity.
Editors at many local dailies have confessed that they do not publish the names of perpetrators or any specific details about individual criminal groups operating in their regions. It seems the print media has found a way to protect itself – by publishing articles that omit detail or thorough analysis and by not crediting individual reporters for content. In Sinaloa, Javier Valdez, founder of the independent weekly Rio Doce, says: ‘One has to think about the narco when one writes a story,’ adding that Rio Doce often publishes on criminal activity without going into too much depth.
The problem with reporting on violence without context or analysis is that this kind of journalism fails to equip readers with tools to understand their reality. Citizens may well know details pertaining to organised crime in small cities, but professional journalists are still needed to quantify the threat and look beyond anecdotal versions of events. In larger cities, a journalist can join the dots, make connections and explain why certain events occur – without this analysis, the population is at a loss.
Given the violence that journalists face in much of Mexico, there is a real need for data journalism – reporting that seeks to quantify events and make real, numerical sense of human suffering and significant events. Today’s citizens need journalists to make social problems visible by turning complicated information into comprehensive news articles, graphs, timelines and maps. Yet in Mexico, and in much of Latin America, journalism still relies on anecdotal reporting that focuses on the individual testimonies of victims. In international journalism, when explaining why something does or doesn’t work, evidence – statistics, detailed information and solid, multi-disciplinary research – is needed, in addition to strong and moving individual stories. As with current trends in journalism in the United States and Europe, journalists in Mexico must be equipped with the appropriate technology and employ methodologies used by other disciplines to make this possible.
In order to promote transparency and expose corruption, crime and social inequalities safely, there is a significant need for data journalism to be a part of the Mexican media landscape. Journalists’ ability to go beyond anecdotal evidence and begin presenting the facts will not only help societies heal, it will help them understand problems and find solutions. ❒