We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
In Mexico’s Veracruz state, a new generation of journalists is taking over from parents who lived and died for their reporting. In doing so, they must find new ways to stay safe — emotionally and physically.
VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story.
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptPress Freedom Mexico Solidarity
HEAD: Connected by Grief, Mexico’s Media Families Find Solace in One Another TEASER: In Veracruz state, families of slain journalists come together to offer support and protection for those still working in media
PUBLISHED AT: Nov. 3 AT 9:30AM
BYLINE: Cristina Caicedo Smit
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Mexico City, Medellín del Bravo
VIDEOGRAPHERS: Christopher Alvarez, Tamara Corro, Ruben Sanchez
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS: (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, Reifenrath
TRT: 3:16
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
UPDATE: For VOA Press Freedom.))
((INTRO))
In Mexico’s Veracruz state, a new generation of journalists is taking over from parents who lived and died for their reporting. In doing so, they must find new ways to stay safe — emotionally and physically. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story.
((NARRATOR))
In the town of Medellín de Bravo, second-generation journalists are picking up their lives after violence in Veracruz, one of Mexico’s most dangerous states, robbed them of their parents.
(United by grief and frustration over a lack of justice, and feeling vulnerable to attacks, they formed a support network.
[[For radio, Jorge Sánchez is a journalist from Medellín de Bravo]]
((Jorge Sánchez Ordóñez, Journalist)) ((MALE/ SPANISH))
“We are in this fight of demanding justice, and we have that combined sentiment of anger and impotence and not knowing what else can happen.”
((NARRATOR))
Sánchez lost his father, José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, in January 2015, when ((00:36)) assailants kidnapped and killed the journalist. ((Mandatory CG: Facebook: La Voz de Medellín)) Six months later, fellow Medellín reporter and family friend Juan Mendoza Delgado was killed. ((end courtesy)) The next month, Veracruz photojournalist Rubén Espinosa Becerril was tracked to a safe house in Mexico City and shot dead.
[[OPTIONAL CUT FOR SERVICES]]
((Jorge Sánchez Ordóñez, Journalist)) ((MALE/ SPANISH))
“It happens many times, when they kill your colleagues, people we know and who we had worked with.”
[[END OPTIONAL CUT]]
((NARRATOR))
An inability to find justice drove Sánchez and six other families to create a network in memory of the journalists who had been slain or had disappeared called La Red en Memoria y Lucha de Periodistas Asesinados o Desaparecidos. The group soon grew to 13.
The network not only brings grieving relatives together but provides practical safety measures. Advice and updates are shared on social media and via messaging apps.
Similar groups are springing up across Mexico, says rights group Article 19.
[[For radio, Paula Saucedo of Article 19]]
((Paula Saucedo, Article 19)) ((Female/Spanish))
“For example, they’re doing advocacy with authorities, trying to find answers and repair the damage for the families. … They are also working on getting better labor and economic conditions for reporters. I think (it) is very on point that the guild gets together and creates these support networks.”
((NARRATOR))
For Sánchez, safety measures mean he can keep his father’s legacy alive, via La Unión, a local media outlet they founded together.
And there’s plenty to report on in Medellín del Bravo, such as poverty; problems with the electric grid and unfinished roads; and lack of access to public services.
But journalists here never know if a story will cost them their lives.
[[For radio, Again, Jorge Sánchez]]
((Jorge Sánchez Ordóñez, Journalist)) ((Male/Spanish))
“If you affect some interests, you can be in danger. Even, for example, if you are covering a car accident. And in that event, you may be interviewing someone who’s not comfortable with the questioning and is connected to bad people.”
((NARRATOR))
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, with more than a dozen slain in 2022 alone. The country has a special prosecutor to investigate crimes and a safety mechanism for media under threat, but critics say those measures don’t always go far enough.
[[For radio, Again, Article 19’s Saucedo.]]
((Paula Saucedo, Article 19)) ((Female/Spanish))
“What worries us most is lethal violence. Because when a journalist is killed, something known as a double murder happens: the murder of the person and the silencing of the stories and investigations that are not going to be told. It has a very strong, cascading effect of fear and censorship.”
((NARRATOR))
With Mexico on track to record its deadliest year yet for media, support groups give journalists the courage to keep reporting.
((Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Mexico City, Medellín del Bravo
Embargo DateNovember 3, 2022 19:05 EDT
Byline
((Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
