Mexico City (August 18, 2008).— A global coalition of press freedom organizations today said that the last three years have been incredibly dangerous for media working in Mexico and its report - “Press Freedom: Shadow of Impunity and Violence” - highlights the range of risks that they face with attacks against journalists continuing to increase at alarming rates.

“Mexico has been one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in recent years where a shocking culture of impunity has led to the number of murders there going up even as the killings of media staff in other Latin American countries go down,” said the International Mission. “The Mexican government must make protection of journalists a top priority and modernize the effectiveness of federal and state authorities to investigate these cases and bring the killers to justice.”

In the last 8 years, at least 24 journalists and media workers have been killed, 8 have disappeared and dozens have been threatened or attacked in direct reprisal for their work. The majority of these cases continue to be met with impunity, a situation that has led to a general state of self-censorship.

In an unprecedented initiative in response to this situation, 13 international press freedom and freedom of expression organisations formed an international mission which travelled to Mexico, from 20-25 April this year, to analyse the situation of journalists and media outlets in the country, in order to work together with Mexican organisations to improve the conditions faced by journalists and the media at large.

The International Mission’s report shows that the main obstacles for the free exercise of journalism in Mexico are: organised crime, which has generated a climate of fear; corruption; impunity; direct attacks by the police and military forces; and the lack of political will on the part of federal and state governments to resolve cases of assaults on journalists and to guarantee their safety.

Faced with these conditions and given that the safety of the public in a situation of vulnerability is the responsibility of the government, the report details the pressing need to create and strengthen mechanisms to prevent attacks and to protect the press, including the training of officials whose responsibility it is to combat crime, so that they do not continue with the attacks on communicators.

While the report recognizes positive signs by the Federal Government in advancing its approval for the federalisation of crimes against journalists, much still needs to be done in order to address what the Mission has identified as one of the most important challenges facing the Mexican government: impunity in cases of killings, “disappearances”, and assaults on journalists, which represents one of the most extreme forms of censorship and which intensifies when there is no punishment of those responsible.

Although the findings of the Mission were worrying, they laid the foundations for understanding the situation which prevails in Mexico, and made it clear that it would be necessary for the Mission to return to the country early in 2009 as part of the mandate which it has developed for future action. (See report in pdf.)

For more information contact:
Robert Shaw, International Media Support Coordinator– (+52) 55 39348542 (mobile)
Darío Ramírez, Article 19 Mexico Director – (+52) 55 10546500 (office)

Notes to editors:
The international mission travelled to Mexico City and the states of Oaxaca, Michoacán, Sonora and Guerrero. The international mission met with: journalists, editors and media owners; the families of reporters who have been murdered or are missing; human rights organisations; federal and local authorities; the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and representatives of the European Union.

This international mission is composed of: Article19; International Media Support (IMS); International Press Institute (IPI); World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC); The Rory Peck Trust; Reporters Without Borders (RSF); the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ); UNESCO; International News Safety Institute (INSI); the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ); the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA); the Open Society Foundation-Network Media Program (OSF), The Foundation for Liberty and Freedom of the Press (FLIP-Colombia).