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Nieman
Reports Fall 2006 Issue
Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore Letters to the Editor To the Editor: In your June 2006 issue, Mexico City newspaper editor Raymundo Riva-Palacio makes the argument, rightly, that Mexican
Alfredo was an investigative reporter who covered organized crime for El Imparcial, in the provincial capital of Hermosillo, Sonora. He disappeared April 2, 2005 after meeting with an official from the federal prosecutor's office. Riva claims that a drug cartel fed information to Alfredo, and the rival cartel retaliated against the reporter. However, he fails to attribute this information to any source leaving open what I see as a strong possibility that this allegation is not true. In his article, "Self-Censorship as a Reaction to Murders by Drug Cartels," published in Nieman Reports (Summer 2006), Riva wrote: "Federal authorities investigating the crime didn't know that Jiménez was fed information from a rival cartel to damage its enemy and, when the 'enemy' found out the original source of information, they are presumed to have murdered him." With these few words, Riva damages the integrity of a young reporter who worked hard to uncover the connections between the authorities in the state and the drug cartels that operate in Sonora. Instead, Riva paints a picture of a reporter who was conned by drug traffickers. This type of misinformation, dropped so casually in the middle of a longer story, only makes matters worse for reporters in Mexico. There are many credible newspapers, including Zeta, in Tijuana; Rio Doce, in Culiacán, and El Mañana, in Nuevo Laredo that have questioned whether the state was involved in Alfredo's disappearance. Indeed, the last story Alfredo wrote was about a corrupt border town police chief arrested in Arizona. Rio Doce and Zeta have questioned whether Sonora state officials might have played a part in Alfredo's disappearance. Other newspapers have joined in that line of investigation. The respected national Mexico newspaper La Jornada suggested in its reporting that the federal official Alfredo last met with, Fernando Rojas Galván, was the young reporter's confidential informant. Riva avoids mention in his article of the entire issue of government corruption and complicity by pinning the blame directly on the narco-trafficking underworld. By doing so, he chooses to reveal to the Nieman Reports audience a less uncomfortable truth. In his article, Riva focused on how reporters in Mexico are censoring their journalism to protect themselves from retaliation. Is it possible Riva is protecting himself as well? Michael Marizco Michael Marizco is a journalist in Arizona and northern Mexico specializing in organized crime and immigration. His work is available at http://BorderReporter.com To the Editor: I find Michael Marizco's argument that I destroyed the reputation of Alfredo Jiménez Mota, a reporter for El Imparcial, a newspaper in the state of Sonora, hard to believe. Even more surprising are some of the other allegations he makes in his letter about my article, "Self-Censorship as a Reaction to Murders by Drug Cartels" (Summer 2006). He is upset that I did not attribute to any source the information that Jiménez, who has been missing since the spring of 2005, was being fed information from a drug cartel. The lack of attribution is enough for him to call into question the information's validity and characterize it as "misinformation." I did not mention any source because I was using this information only as a context within my larger story and not presenting it to readers as new information. This does not mean the information is false, as he implies. It seems that what I considered background information, he considers a "scoop." This is too bad, but it is not my fault that he does not have what I consider to be first-hand, quality information. To also say that I did not explore government corruption makes no sense to me. Certainly government corruption is not a new story in Mexico, but self-censorship by the Mexican press because of threats from drug cartels is a new situation. I stand by what I wrote, even if it is not the story that Mr. Marizco wanted or expected to read. Raymundo Riva-Palacio Table of contents Printer-friendly format |
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