Document 1:
Mexico country profile
•Full name: United Mexican States
•Population: 114.8 million (UN, 2011)
•Capital: Mexico City
•Area: 1.96 million sq km (758,449 sq miles)
•Major language: Spanish
•Major religion: Christianity
•Life expectancy: 75 years (men), 80 years (women)
(UN)
•Monetary unit: 1 peso = 100 centavos
•Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment,
mineral fuels and lubricants, food and live animals
•GNI per capita: US $9,240 (World Bank, 2011)
Mexico is a nation where affluence, poverty, natural splendor and urban blight rub shoulders.
Overview
Mexico has the second-largest economy in Latin America and is a major oil producer and exporter.
Though production has fallen in the last few years, about one-third of government revenue still comes from the oil
industry. About half of the crude oil is bought by the US.
But prosperity remains a dream for many Mexicans, and the socio-economic gap remains wide. Rural areas are often
neglected and huge shanty towns ring the cities.
In recent decades many poor Mexicans have sought to cross the 1950 mile border with the US in search of a job. At one
point more than a million were being arrested every year, but since 2007 there appears to have been a dramatic fall in
numbers, mainly attributed to changing demographics in Mexico itself.
Economic recovery
The Mexican economy is heavily dependent on the money sent home by the millions of migrant
workers in the US, and was hit hard by the downturn in the US economy in the recession of 2008.
On a more positive note, Mexico has recently been emerging from its deepest economic slump since the 1930s, with
foreign companies pouring billions of dollars of fresh investment into the country. Foreign direct investment climbed
nearly 30 per cent in the first six months of 2010 from a year earlier.
Violent crime though remains a major concern; Mexico has one of the highest rates of kidnappings in the world, and
over 35,000 people have died in drug-related violence since December 2006.
Powerful cartels control the trafficking of drugs from South America to the US, a business that is worth an estimated
$13 billion a year.
Mexico's northern border towns are experiencing the worst of the violence. Ciudad Juarez (just across from El Paso in
Texas) is the city suffering the most. There are also high levels of violence in Michoacan and Guerrero states.
However, Mexico is a large country, and there are still many areas which do not experience high levels of serious crime.
The overall murder rate is lower than several other countries in the region, including El Salvador and Honduras.
Native rights Another persistent issue has been the pressure for greater rights for Mexico's indigenous people. A law
passed in 2001 fell short of giving Mexico's Indians autonomy.
However, demands for indigenous rights have been largely peaceful since 1994, when at least 150 people died during an
uprising in the southern state of Chiapas, led by the Zapatista rebel movement.
Writers such as Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes, the mural-painter Diego Rivera, and popular ranchero and mariachi
music mean that Mexican culture is known throughout the Spanish-speaking world and beyond.
Key Events:
1810-21
1824
1848
1855-72
1876-1911
1910-1920
1934
1960s
1968
1976
1993
2008
2009
2013
War of Independence from Spain.
The new Mexican state is marked by tension between the conservative Spanish-origin landowning elite
and the largely indigenous landless minority, resulting in instability and frequent armed conflict.
Mexican-American War ends with Mexico being forced to sell its northern provinces (including modernday California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah) to the US.
"La Reforma" period: liberal reforms limiting the power and landholdings of the Catholic Church.
Porfirio Diaz's 35-year-long dictatorship brings a long period of stability, modernization and economic
growth, but at the price of political repression and limited economic development.
Mexican Revolution ends the Diaz dictatorship and leads to establishment of a constitutional republic.
President Lazaro Cardenas begins program of oil nationalization, land reform and industrial expansion.
Unrest amongst peasants and laborers over unequal wealth distribution is suppressed.
Student demonstration in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, during the Olympic Games is fired upon by Mexican
security forces. Hundreds of protesters are killed or wounded.
Huge offshore oil reserves discovered
Mexican parliament ratifies the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with the US and Canada.
The goal is to increase trade between the three nations.
Protests throughout Mexico against drugs-related violence.
Murder rate in Ciudad Juarez reaches all-time high due to battles between rival drug cartels.
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, head of the brutal Zetas drugs cartel, is arrested in the highest-profile
arrest since President Pena Nieto adopted a policy of targeting local drug leaders.
Leader: President Enrique Pena Nieto
Enrique Pena Nieto won the 2012 presidential elections in 2012 with a victory for the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI). Mr. Pena Nieto began his political career in his twenties, working for the PRI and in the local government system
in Mexico State, the country's most populous state, rising to become the governor in 2005.
He won praise for his expansion of the transport and healthcare system and careful financial management during his six
years as governor, which helped win him the PRI presidential nomination and the election itself. One of his biggest
challenges is the violence of the drug cartels. He began his presidential career by making reforms that would increase
the size of the federal police force to combat the drug cartels.
Media
Mexico's media were traditionally dominated by the Televisa group, which had firm links with the PRI.
But the loosening of the PRI's hold led to greater editorial independence and the emergence of competitors.
Televisa once had a virtual monopoly in Mexican TV and it is still a major global supplier of programs in Spanish. New
companies- such as the Azteca group and foreign satellite and cable operators - have cut into Televisa's dominance.
The radio market is very large, with around 1,400 local and regional stations. Some high-powered stations on Mexico's
northern border transmit into lucrative US markets.
Mexican newspapers reflect different political views; sensationalism characterizes the biggest-selling dailies.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in 2011 described Mexico as "one of the hemisphere's most dangerous countries" for
the media. Since 2000, scores of journalists have been murdered. "Drug cartels and corrupt officials are implicated in
most of the crimes of violence against journalists, which almost always go unpunished," RSF added.
Mexico is one of Latin America's biggest internet markets. There were nearly 44 million internet users by the end of
2012 - about 38% of the population. Facebook is the most popular social network.
Document 2
Principles of Journalism- Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism (Edited)
A Statement of Purpose
After extended examination by journalists themselves of the character of journalism at the end of the twentieth century,
we offer this common understanding of what defines our work. The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens
with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society.
1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth
Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Journalism does not pursue
truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, but it can--and must--pursue it in a practical sense. This "journalistic truth" is
a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts.
2. Its first loyalty is to citizens
While news organizations answer to many people and groups, including advertisers and shareholders, the journalists in
those organizations must maintain allegiance to citizens and the larger public interest above any other if they are to
provide the news without fear or favor.
3. Its essence is a discipline of verification
Journalists rely on a professional discipline for verifying information. [We do] not imply that journalists are free of bias. It
called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information--a transparent approach to evidence--precisely so that
personal and cultural biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work. The method is objective, not the
journalist. Seeking out multiple witnesses, disclosing as much as possible about sources, or asking various sides for
comment, all signal such standards.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover
Independence is an underlying requirement of journalism, a cornerstone of its reliability. Independence of spirit and
mind, rather than neutrality, is the principle journalists must keep in focus.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power
Journalism has an unusual capacity to serve as watchdog over those whose power and position most affects citizens.
(Journalists guard against tyrants and dictators.)
6. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant
Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. It should do more than gather an audience or catalogue the important. For its
own survival, it must balance what readers know they want with what they cannot anticipate but need. In short, it must
strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
7. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional
Keeping news in proportion and not leaving important things out are also cornerstones of truthfulness.
8. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
Every journalist must have a personal sense of ethics and responsibility--a moral compass. Each of us must be willing, if
fairness and accuracy require, to voice differences with our colleagues, whether in the newsroom or the executive suite.
Document 3A
500 police officers replaced in Tijuana
November 19, 2008|Richard Marosi
Mexican federal agents and army troops are dispatched in a bid to rid the Tijuana police department of cops
suspected of having links to drug traffickers.
Reporting from Tijuana—
Mexican federal agents and army troops fanned out across this besieged border city Tuesday to replace 500
police officers, the latest move by the government to purge the troubled force of corrupt and incompetent cops.
Last week, 21 officers, including two deputy chiefs, were detained on suspicion of having ties to drug traffickers
and flown to Mexico City for questioning by Mexico's anti-organized-crime unit.
The moves come as authorities struggle to control a brutal war among rival traffickers that has killed more than
300 people in Tijuana since late September and left residents wary of large areas of the city.
Despite past purges, the 2,200-member police department is still viewed by many as an arm of the drug
cartels.
Officers have been accused of working as lookouts, informants, hit men or bodyguards for drug smugglers,
and scores of them have been killed over the years.
The 500 officers who were replaced will be sent to a police academy for training and background checks and
could return in a few months, authorities said.
Their removal appears to be aimed at weakening Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as El Teo, a suspected
crime boss who is believed to control the police in the city's east.
Federal agents and troops, supported by Baja California state police, will patrol four neighborhoods considered
Garcia's strongholds, including La Mesa and Cerro Colorado.
Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos hailed the replacements as part of his long-term efforts to reform the unruly
department. Earlier this year, 100 officers suspected of corruption were fired.
Prosecutors also said Tuesday that a top police official who was Mexico's main liaison with Interpol
(International Police Organization) was under house arrest as part of an investigation into leaks to drug cartels.
Interpol said officials in Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas' position would have access to information on suspects, the
Associated Press reported.
Among the 21 officers detained in Tijuana last week was a veteran policeman well known in U.S. law
enforcement circles. Javier Cardenas, the Mexican liaison to U.S. federal and local agencies, was highly
regarded for capturing fugitives and suspects here and turning them over to U.S. authorities.
He was taken into custody by a convoy of soldiers that descended on the downtown police headquarters.
Document 2B
Violence unabated in Tijuana
December 02, 2008|Richard Marosi
Despite a recent military crackdown, the city's drug wars have left at least 38 dead in three days.
TIJUANA — At least 38 people have been killed in Tijuana since Saturday, nine of them decapitated,
in escalating drug-related violence that appears to have left in tatters a Mexican military offensive
launched two weeks ago.
The killing spree marked the end of the term of the city's top law enforcement official. Secretary of
Public Security Alberto Capella Ibarra was removed from his post Monday evening after a year
marked by upheaval in the police ranks and increasing violence.
Document 4
27 Journalists murdered in Mexico since 1992
Document 5
Gunmen Kill Editor Of Tijuana Newspaper
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 23, 2004; Page A18
MEXICO CITY, June 22 -- Masked gunmen on Tuesday shot and killed a prominent Tijuana journalist who was
investigating the 1988 shooting death of one of the founders of his newspaper.
Francisco Ortiz Franco was shot four times in his car just before noon on a busy street in downtown Tijuana, the rough
border city south of San Diego. A release from his newspaper, Zeta, said he was shot while leaving a physical therapy
session accompanied by his sons, ages 10 and 8.
Ortiz, 48, was an editor and one of the founders at the weekly newspaper best known for its investigative reporting
about government corruption and drug trafficking. He was the third Zeta journalist ambushed and shot in 16 years. Cofounder Hector Felix Miranda was shot and killed in 1988; Jesus Blancornelas, co-founder and publisher, was severely
wounded and his bodyguard was killed in an attack in 1997.
Blancornelas still runs the newspaper and is guarded around the clock by a large group of soldiers and police officers.
One of his attackers, who was killed by a ricocheting bullet, was identified as an assassin from the Arellano Felix drug
cartel whose picture had recently appeared on Zeta's front page.
The Felix Miranda case remains a major political issue in Tijuana. Two men were convicted in the shooting and
sentenced to prison. They were both security guards at a racetrack owned by Jorge Hank Rhon, a son of one of Mexico's
most powerful politicians, the late Carlos Hank Gonzalez, and a frequent subject of Felix Miranda's hard-hitting columns.
Hank Rhon, now running for mayor of Tijuana, has not been charged with involvement in the killing and has repeatedly
denied any link. But Zeta has run a full-page advertisement every week since 1988 asking, in Felix Miranda's name:
"Jorge Hank Rhon: Why did your bodyguard Antonio Vera Palestina kill me?"
In April, Zeta ran a column under Ortiz's byline saying that the paper would not accept any political advertising from
Hank Rhon because "we believe it is not ethical to give this service to someone who was the employer of the killers" of
Felix Miranda.
Hank Rhon, in a written statement, said he was "profoundly saddened . . . indignant and offended" at the death of "a
professional and dedicated journalist."
Ortiz was part of a joint review of the Felix Miranda case by the Mexican government and the Inter American Press
Association. Ricardo Trotti, who oversees press freedom issues for the association, said in a telephone interview from
Miami that Ortiz, a close friend of Felix Miranda's, was the association's representative to the investigation.
Trotti said the association had "detected irregularities" in the Felix Miranda investigation and had repeatedly asked the
Mexican government to allow an independent review of the case files. At the association's meeting in March, attended
by President Vicente Fox, the government signed an agreement authorizing a review of the case, and of the 1991 killing
of a journalist in Ciudad Juarez.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Editorial Board Role-Play
You and your partner are the editorial board for the weekly newspaper Zeta, based in Tijuana, Mexico. You regularly
meet to discuss and determine as a group how the paper will handle its coverage of various issues, especially those that
are controversial or put the paper or its staff and their loved ones at risk. You frequently refer to the Principles of
Journalism Handout to guide your decisions:
Context of Zeta’s Reporting
Tijuana and the surrounding area have seen an increase in drug trafficking and related violence as rival cartels battle for
territory. Each cartel protects its business interests by paying off corrupt police and government officials and by violently
solving any conflicts. Reporting on corrupt politicians and organized crime has been extremely dangerous for journalists
in Mexico.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 27 journalists have been murdered since 1992. In 22 of those cases,
the perpetrators of the crimes have not been brought to justice.
In Tijuana, journalists have been threatened. Others have been targeted for assassination:
 Héctor Félix “Gato” Miranda, Zeta founder, assassinated in 1988
 Jesús Blancornelas, Zeta founder, attacked in 1997
 Benjamín Flores, Siete Días co-founder, assassinated in 1997
Today’s Issue for Discussion
One of the paper’s reporters, Francisco Ortiz, has evidence that a large number of hit men from the Arellano Félix drug
cartel are obtaining fake IDs through the attorney general’s office. He wants to print the story, along with the ID photos
of the men, in which they are all wearing the same coat and tie. Right now, these hit men are anonymous and are able
to go out in public. Printing their pictures will expose them and make them angry. It will also reveal corruption in the
attorney general’s office. Ortiz wants the article to run under his byline.
Decide: Should the paper publish the story? If so, should Ortiz have a byline?
Benefits:
Risks:
Board’s Decision: (Make a conclusion)
Critical Thinking question: Is journalism worth dying for?