Mexico Failing to Protect Journalists Against 'Aggressions,' Advocates Say Tracy Wilkinson - The Los Angeles Times
go to original April 19, 2014

Journalists protest in Mexico City in February to call attention to the killings of their colleagues. (Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)

MEXICO CITY — A highly touted system to protect Mexican reporters working in one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists is failing miserably and may in fact further imperil those it is intended to help, media advocates say.

In the first year of the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, killings of journalists declined significantly but other attacks multiplied, organizations that work on behalf of reporters said.

Article 19, an advocacy group, said 330 "aggressions" against journalists were reported in 2013, compared with 207 the year before. Those were defined as verbal or physical attacks, many occurring during protests when police countered forcefully, injuring journalists along with demonstrators. A little more than half were committed by public officials, said Dario Ramirez, director of Article 19.

More serious than that, however, is that the protections set up for journalists are not working, Article 19 and others said.

"I'd be better off in the hands of God," said Mario Segura, a reporter who fled the violent state of Tamaulipas after surviving an abduction.

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