This was sponsored by The Center for International Media Assistance and the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the National Endowment for Democracy and the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program at the University of Maryland.
Featured Contributors:
- Michael Shifter, Vice President for Policy and Director of the Andean program, Inter-American Dialogue
- Juan Carlos Iragorri, U.S. correspondent for Semana, Colombia
- Juliana Cano Nieto, Former Executive Director, Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP), Colombia
- Dolia Estévez, Senior Advisor for U.S.-Mexico Journalist Initiative of the Woodrow Wilson Center and Freelance Reporter for Mexican Media
- Ana Avila, Senior Analyst, Institute for Security and Democracy, Mexico
- Carlos Lauría, Senior Program Coordinator for the Americas, Committee to Protect Journalists
Comment by:
- Marguerite Sullivan, Senior Director, CIMA
- Don Podesta, Manager/Editor, CIMA
- Miriam Kornblith, Director, Latin America and the Caribbean Programs, National Endowment for Democracy
About the Event
In the face of violent murders of reporters and bombings of newspaper headquarters, a number of journalists in Colombia emerged as aggressive investigators of drug corruption in their country more than a decade ago. Today covering increasingly brutal drug cartel wars puts journalists in the line of fire in Mexico, now considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers. Drug gangs and even government agents—soldiers and police—threaten and attack journalists.
As a result, many reporters practice self-censorship, which poses a danger to freedom of expression in the country. Is the drug war threatening democracy in Mexico? What is the current situation in Colombia, and does it relate to Mexico today? Are there lessons to be learned from the experience of Colombian journalists?
