{"id":4379,"date":"2009-03-19T18:47:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T00:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/shining-light-but-at-what-cost\/"},"modified":"2009-03-19T18:47:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T00:47:00","slug":"shining-light-but-at-what-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/shining-light-but-at-what-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Shining light, but at what cost?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalists talk about the perils of working along the U.S.-Mexico border<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By Vicki Nisbett<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Journalists who work near the U.S.-Mexico border said during a panel discussion at New Mexico State University on Thursday that they have to practice self-censorship because they fear becoming another statistic or making someone else a target in a conflict that has cost many lives.<\/p>\n

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Two dozen Mexican journalists have been killed in the past nine years for speaking openly about violence and murders that have plagued Mexico. Another seven have disappeared, according to the El Paso Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In February, 38-year-old photojournalist Jean Paul Ibarra Ramirez, from the Mexican newspaper El Correo, was shot and killed<\/a>. Twenty-two-year-old Yenny Yuliana Marchan Arroyo, from the newspaper Diario 21, was also shot, but survived.<\/p>\n

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\u201c(As a journalist), you have to ask yourself, is this issue getting the attention it deserves? But at what cost?\u201d El Paso Times reporter Diana Washington Valdez, a member of the panel, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The journalists who participated in the forum, titled \u201cCensorship by Bullet and Intimidation: Journalists\u2019 Murders in Mexico,\u201d spoke about covering the chilling murders in Ju\u00e1rez and Chihuahua since the 1990s, the continued unrest there and what it\u2019s like to be Mexican journalists.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The journalism and mass communications, government and history departments co-hosted the Madison Day panel in honor of former President James Madison<\/a>, who is known as \u201cFather of the Constitution\u201d and drafter of the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe host a panel each year for Madison Day,\u201d journalism and mass communications professor Mary Lamonica said. \u201cThe topic we chose this year is a real issue and happens to be only 40 miles away, so it seemed to be a perfect topic to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Nancy Baker, the government department head and panel moderator, opened the discussion by saying journalists are threatened not just in Mexico, but also globally.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen journalists are killed, it is a threat to democracy itself,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Day and night<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Journalism professor Bruce Berman, who is also a New York Times<\/a> border photographer assigned to El Paso and Ju\u00e1rez, helped organize the event and spoke in an interview about the contrast between nighttime and daytime in Ju\u00e1rez, a border city currently caught in a battle<\/a> between the Mexican Army and cartels. During the day, life seems almost normal except for the fact that businesses are suffering from a lack of tourists.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to a local soccer game recently during the day and the citizens were so involved in the game. It was so normal, and was like an island of peace for them,\u201d Berman said. \u201c\u2026 The night is for the cartel.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The panel members were Valdez, who wrote the 2006 book, \u201cThe Killing Fields: Harvest of Women,\u201d<\/a> about the murders and disappearances of about 400 women in the cities of Ju\u00e1rez and Chihuahua; Ricardo Lopez, photo editor of El Diario de Ju\u00e1rez<\/a>; Sito Negron, editor of El Paso\u2019s online newspaper, Newspaper Tree<\/a>; and Alejandra Manuela Gomez, broadcast and print journalist for \u201cNet Informaci\u00f3n Total\u201d magazine and author of the book \u201cRediscovering the Philosophical Importance of Jose Ingenieros – A Bridge Between Two Worlds- Jose Ingenieros and His Impact.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Lopez said there are \u201cmany dedicated journalists\u201d in Mexico. He and others discussed the reality that photographers in Ju\u00e1rez need to be wary when they show up after a shooting because sometimes the gunmen can return to the scene or can be in a crowd watching after the event.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Someone asked Lopez about intimidation, and he said he had heard of journalists having to accept money because it was \u201cnot an option\u201d to write a story with a certain angle or to print a photo. He says he doesn\u2019t personally know of anyone who has taken money.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Media exaggeration?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

An audience member asked whether the deploying of the Mexican military to Ju\u00e1rez has helped eradicate corruption. Negron said he thinks the unrest in Ju\u00e1rez is exaggerated by the media, which creates imagery of gun-laden Mexicans shooting everything after they cross the border. He claimed there are just as many drug-related shootings in America.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s almost racist to ask the question, \u2018Will the violence spill over to America?\u2019\u201d he said about the violence in Mexico.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

To read more about Negron\u2019s opinions, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gomez, whose mother was a journalist in Mexico who was killed, along with other family members, when Gomez was six years old, said she also thinks the media exaggerates the violence, though she did say there are problems.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gomez, who works and lives in Ju\u00e1rez, showed examples of Mexican journalists writing uncensored stories or taking photographs.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Valdez, on the other hand, said the violence in Mexico has worsened in recent years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Nisbett is a freelance writer and the owner of the business Punctilious Publications. She\u2019s currently writing stories for this site and looking for other opportunities. She can be reached at puncpubs@yahoo.com<\/a>. A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Berman spoke at the event.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalists talk about the perils of working along the U.S.-Mexico border By Vicki Nisbett Journalists who work near the U.S.-Mexico border said during a panel discussion at New Mexico State University on Thursday that they have to practice self-censorship because they fear becoming another statistic or making someone else a target in a conflict that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}