Why is Mexico still the most dangerous country for journalists?

On Tuesday, January 25 at 19:30 GMT:
Mexico is considered the most dangerous country in the world for journalists outside active war zones, and already in this year, three journalists have been killed.

On Sunday, Tijuana journalist Lourdes Maldonado Lopez was found shot to death in her car as she arrived home. Lopez, who covered corruption and politics, had previously endured threats related to her work and was enrolled in Mexico’s programme to protect journalists.

Just a week earlier, Tijuana photojournalist Margarito Martinez was also found shot dead in front of his home. His murder took place a week after another journalist, Jose Luis Gamboa, was fatally stabbed in Veracruz state. Martínez was well-known for covering violent crime in Tijuana while Gamboa ran a website critical of government ties to organised crime.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least 47 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the past five years. Seven were killed in 2021 alone, and at least 25 journalists have been killed since president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in 2018.

Press freedom organisations say the vast majority of journalist killings and disappearances in Mexico go unpunished and suffer from lack of a proper investigation.

In this episode of The Stream, we’ll discuss the threats faced by journalists in Mexico and what’s being done to protect them.

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Jan-Albert Hootsen, @jahootsen
Mexico representative, Committee to Protect Journalists

Andalusia K. Soloff, @Andalalucha
Freelance journalist

Jorge Nieto, @nietonorte
Freelance journalist