Samenvatting

It seems today that the streets in Mexico are littered with bodies of journalists. Since the ruling president, Felipe Calderón, declared war on drug cartels in December 2006, more than 30 journalists have been murdered or have gone missing. The escalating violence and attacks on Mexican media are emerging and have been the motivation for writing this dissertation.
Compliant with the Libertarian Theory of Siebert, Peterson and Schramm, the freedom of press is defined as follows in this research: 'the right for journalists to be able to do their work without being subject to intimidation or actual violence, and able to report freely without censorship.' Under state rules Mexico's press is considered free, in Constitutional articles 6 and 7, but in practice this is not the case at all. Freedom House even declined Mexico's press from Partly Free (2010) to Not Free (2011), because of the escalating violent attacks on journalists caused by the drug war.

Aggressive media tactics have been designed by battling cartels throughout the entire country. To control the drug market, the cartels have to control (corrupt) journalists. Self-censorship is produced by bribery and extortion, and more importantly by death treats, violence and even killings of Mexican reporters (at times even their family members) and journalists. Media outlets can influence public opinion, expose locations or identities of the drug lords or members, or corrupt officials that are deployed by the cartels. Since the intensification of the drug war, there is an escalating range of violence against the Mexican press. Mexico is number eight on the list of most deadliest countries in the world for journalists, with 64 journalists killed since 1992. However, not only journalists face the consequences of reporting dangerous information. Social media users are brutally being murdered for 'snitching' on cartels on blogs, with notes left on their bodies 'justifying' their murders.

The large quantities of available information on the dramatic situation of Mexico lead to the central question of the dissertation: "to what extent is freedom of the press in Mexico affected by the violence against journalists perpetrated by drug cartels in the country?" Desk research has been conducted to answer this question. Qualitative research, in the form of an interview with Jan-Albert Hootsen, a Dutch correspondent who lives and works in Mexico, provides an inside scoop to the contemporary problems involving Mexican journalism.

In most of Mexico's states, rivaling drug cartels control the information agenda. It has come to a point where newspapers have printed texts on their front pages stating they do not cover the drug war to keep their employees safe. Which means that many shootouts in the streets of Mexico are ignored, and little to nothing on the drug war is being reported on.

The media in Mexico, and therefore the freedom of speech and press are extremely threatened by violent drug cartels. Journalists and even their family members are being killed, numerous are missing, media outlets are vandalised and even social media users are in danger. Drugs cartels are still extremely powerful, and control not only media outlets, but also bribe and pressure public employees, and are even infiltrated in Mexico's government and institutions. Mexico lives and breathes the drug war.

The violent drug cartels will continue to influence the security situation of Mexican society, particularly media workers, journalists and normal citizens, until a breakthrough will come in fighting them. There needs to be taken more action by Calderón and his government to defend and protect the media. The president and the government have a constitutional responsibility to guarantee free expression. Not only do journalists need to be able to do their jobs safely, safeguarding press freedom is a key factor in battling the cartels. The drug war cannot be won as long as the cartels maintain their power on the media. There should be reports of the corruption, the violence, and the government efforts to fight the cartels.

To conclude, Calderón and his government are not only being overshadowed in the drug war, but in the war of information as well. The media are extremely affected by the violent drug cartels. The free flow of information in Mexico has reached a crucial low, mainly because of the pressure and violence of cartels, and will not rise until the government takes drastic measures. Still then, it would take decades to defeat the powerful cartels. Until then, drug cartels remain in charge of what shows up on the front pages of Mexican dailies, and journalists are not able to practice their profession in safety.