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Transcript/Script PF Toluca Mexico Journalism
HEADLINE: Despite Kidnapping, Mexican Journalist Remains Committed to Reporting
TEASER: Death threats and a kidnapping hasn’t shaken Maria Teresa Montaño’s commitment to reporting the truth
PUBLISHED AT: 11/28/2023 at 6:18 p.m.
BYLINE: Cristina Caicedo Smit
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Toluca, México
VIDEOGRAPHER: Christopher Alvarez
VIDEO EDITOR: Cristina Caicedo Smit
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, Bill Ide
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, AFP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:16
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[Mexican journalist Maria Teresa Montaño has survived death threats and a kidnapping. But she refuses to quit investigating corruption and wrongdoing. From Toluca, Mexico, VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story.]]
((NARRATOR))
Persistence. That’s the word María Teresa Montaño uses when asked why she still works as an investigative journalist in Mexico.
((María Teresa Montaño, The Observer ((Female in Spanish))
“Despite the risks in recent years, above all, I came back to finish what I was doing.”
((NARRATOR))
A journalist for 30 years, Montaño covers corruption and reports on local government and politics for her news website The Observer in the city of Toluca.
But not everyone welcomes her investigations.
In August 2021 three men abducted Montaño at gunpoint.
For three hours, the assailants threatened the journalist, forced her to withdraw money at several ATMs and took her reporting gear and notebooks.
She says the attackers left her with a warning: don’t report the kidnapping.
((María Teresa Montaño, The Observer)) ((Female in Spanish))
“I had to leave the country because they threatened to kill me.”
((NARRATOR))
((AFP video of journalists’ photos and memorial, reporters covering events)) ((Mandatory: AFP))
Montaño’s experience is all too common in Mexico. Three journalists in Guerrero state in November were kidnapped and held for several days.
One of the most dangerous countries for journalists globally, Mexico registered more than a dozen media killings in 2022 alone says the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ.
[[For Radio: Jan- Albert Hootsen is CPJ’s Mexico Representative]]
((Jan-Albert Hootsen, Committee to Protect Journalists)) ((Male in Spanish))
“We continue to see public officials who in no way respect freedom of the press in the country. We have in Mexico many organized crime groups that are willing to use extreme violence to protect their interests, and for them journalists are a legitimate target.”
((NARRATOR))
Adding to the risks, says Hootsen, is the lack of justice.
((Jan-Albert Hootsen is CPJ’s Mexico Representative)) ((Male in Spanish))
“In Mexico, more than 95% of crimes against journalists go without any sentence. And those are the crimes we have recorded.”
((NARRATOR))
((BROLL VOA video of Montaño walking in a park and reading a book, video of the city of Toluca))
Montaño’s case is still unsolved.
She reported her kidnapping to state officials and the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, who assigned her a bodyguard— at least while in Toluca.
But even with protection, Montaño feels uneasy.
After the kidnapping she sent her children away from Toluca, and left Mexico briefly.
((María Teresa Montaño, The Observer)) ((Female in Spanish))
“I fell into a severe depression, there was a moment when I couldn't continue, the truth was, I was very unwell and at moments I couldn’t get out of bed.”
((NARRATOR))
But a sense of duty — and her news and fact-checking website The Observer — kept her going.
((María Teresa Montaño, The Observer)) ((Female in Spanish))
“After the kidnapping, I thought I was done, (with journalism) then you realize that it’s your vocation. I felt like I had things pending. I have a web portal with a team that was waiting for me, and I had to go back, and I wanted to go back to finish what I had started.”
((NARRATOR))
Another motivation: her commitment to the truth.
((María Teresa Montaño, The Observer)) ((Female in Spanish))
“It’s necessary to encourage a free press that makes the issues that really matter visible to the eyes of politicians, the deviations, what they’re doing wrong and who they are, so people can make appropriate decisions at the time.”
((NARRATOR))
That commitment led CPJ to recognize Montaño this month [November] with its International Press Freedom Award for her courageous reporting.
((Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News, Toluca México))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Toluca México
Embargo DateNovember 28, 2023 19:30 EST
Byline
Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
