Today, The Washington Post demanded Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, more answers and actions on the killings of journalists in the country. The murder of La Jornada reporter, and co-founder of Ríodoce, Javier Valdez, last week in Sinaloa, confirms the dangers reporters in Mexico undergo, especially those who cover drug-trafficking-related news.
The daily continued: “The life and death of this courageous reporter should serve as inspiration and prod to the Mexican government to undertake reforms needed to end impunity that allows the country's lawlessness to flourish.” exhorted the editorial in their online version entitled “In Mexico, journalism is literally being killed off”.
In their article, The Washington Post's editorial staff goes over Valdez's history, his relevance in the investigations of drug trafficking and organized crime in Sinaloa, and how that entity has turned into an icon of the risks reporters are willing to face in their search for truth.
The Post recaps the tragic figures for the American audience: six journalists killed this year so far, more than a hundred since 2000, and the paradox eleven days prior to Valdez's death, when the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) presented their briefing on the danger of exercising journalism (“Without excuse: Mexico must break the cycle of impunity before the death of journalists”) to the president himself.
Among the recommendations are better protection for journalists at risk and more and better investigations of the crimes against freedom of expression.
al
