‘Anchor Buddy: Mexico’s Endangered Journalists’ by Michel Martin
Australian journalists are lucky. We can write about issues without fear of being attacked or hurt because of it, and we have the freedom to write about anything as long as it is not defamatory. What we forget though is that this is not the case everywhere and the battle for a free press still rages across the world.
This 2007 piece by Michel Martin of National Public Radio (NPR) is a discussion with Mexican journalist Ana Maria Salazar and Carlos Lauria, of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Mexico has freedom of expression guaranteed by their constitution. However the reality of violence against the media often stops journalists from reporting fully on stories. In 2010 ten journalists were killed while doing their job.
Lauria tells the story of a newsroom inMexico being stormed by gunmen, who were unhappy with their coverage of events and issues.
Reporters inMexico – and not justMexico – risk their lives to do the sort of things we do every day. This highlights the importance of international news coverage, because if a journalist inMexico can’t report on it, then we, in a free press society, should.
Matthew Dixon is a final-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University and is part of upstart’s editorial team. His blog is called The Grumpy Mustache and you can follow him on Twitter: @matthewdixon23
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