The Mexican Media Blackout: President Pena Nieto's War on Bad Press Joseph Ringoen - Council on Hemispheric Affairs
go to original September 11, 2013

Six years of unremitting headlines on extreme violence and rampant crime has sullied Mexico’s reputation abroad. Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and his confrontational “War on Drugs” grew increasingly unpopular over the years, resulting in the 2012 election of opposition party candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, who espoused a new security strategy and vision for Mexico. Since taking office last December, Peña Nieto has worked to shift the national dialogue toward other issues, like the economy, hoping the public would not notice that violent confrontations between the military and civilians remain a daily occurrence.

Peña Nieto particularly has worked to shift attention to the newly formed Pacto por México (Pact for Mexico), an agreement among the three dominant Mexican political parties that aims to pursue a wide range of modernizing reforms. Many of the proposed reforms seek to correct institutional weaknesses exposed under the previous administration. Two of the most important tasks are to achieve greater transparency and better protection for journalists.

But, ironically, Peña Nieto’s efforts to improve Mexico’s image have directly undermined both of these stated objectives. The Peña Nieto Administration has worked to tightly regulate official information, subdue independent media coverage, and disorient international perception of drug-related violence in Mexico. In reality, the state of organized crime remains as perilous as ever, while press freedoms have continued to see a marked decline under Peña Nieto.

Read the rest at Council on Hemispheric Affairs

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