Seeing Double: Media Cloning Is Newest Threat to Free Press in Mexico Manuel Rueda - Fusion
go to original October 2, 2014

Attacks on the media in Mexico usually come in the most brutal forms — kidnappings, assassinations, and blackmail.

But a sneakier, more subtle way of attacking the freedom of press has recently emerged in sunny Cancun — and it’s surprisingly effective.

Behold, the art of media cloning.

Cloning happens when a fake version of a newspaper or a magazine is distributed online or in print, with the aim of confusing readers, hampering newsstand sales, and undermining the information that appears in the real publication.

In the picture above, the front page of Luces, an investigative journalism magazine based in Cancun, has been copied, only the headline to the main article has been switched.

The real version of the magazine (on the left) reports that the security policies of Governor Roberto Borge have led to a series of human-rights violations in the state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun.  The “cloned” version, however, praises Borge for getting tough on crime and implementing strategies that “no governor in the history” of the state has tried before.

Read the rest at Fusion

Image: Article 19

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