"This volume presents an analytical and empirical overview of the array of issues that the Mexican media faces in the post-authoritarian age, which jointly explains how a partially accomplished democracy, its authoritarian inertias, and its unintended consequences hinder the democratic performance o
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f the media. This is analyzed from three points of view: the stalemate Mexican media system and ineffective regulations, the conditions of risk and insecurity of the journalists on the field, and the limits of freedom of expression, political substance, and inclusiveness of media content. A binational effort, with research from US and Mexican authors, a wide analytic perspective is provided on the macro, meso, and micro levels, allowing for a deep conceptual richness and a comprehensive understanding of the Mexican case. With leading researchers in the field, the volume revolves around the problems of the media in post-authoritarian democracies. By answering the questions of how and why the Mexican media has not fully democratized, the works encompassed here can resonate with and are relevant to other post-authoritarian countries and academic disciplines." (Publisher description)
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"With 33 journalists killed since the beginning of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidential term in December 2018, Mexico heads the list of the most violent countries for journalists in Latin America—and that of countries not at war. While journalist organizations demand a meaningful protect
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ion apparatus to safeguard their physical safety, official corruption, and criminal impunity continue to escalate the pressures to which media staff are exposed, especially in Mexican states where cartels and criminal groups have the largest footprint. This study aims to precisely identify the pressures, both internal and external, facing journalists who report on organized crime in Mexico. To do this, we drew from the Hierarchy of Influences Model, and interviewed 22 Mexican journalists who work on the organized crime beat in the country’s capital and in the most violent states in the Republic. The results suggest that the most influential forces they face are associated with the organizational level (such as editorial line or institutional censorship), and the extramedia level (e.g., anti-press violence from cartels/authorities, and government advertising contracts)." (Abstract)
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"As a consequence of the endemic anti-press violence, Mexican journalists work under dangerous conditions. The constant assaults have eroded the practice of free journalism and thus, the people's right to know. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews with news workers from the most violent st
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ates across the country, this study emphasises that this phenomenon has a threefold impact at the individual, organisational, and societal levels. That is, those attacks affect the victims, the newsrooms they work for, and society. The findings also point that journalists throughout the nation share similar perceptions regarding these implications, because there is a generalised risk that they have to constantly face." (Abstract)
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"The aim of this chapter is to describe Mexican journalists' responses to constant threats and aggressions. In doing so, it draws on 93 semi-structured interviews conducted in 23 of the most violent states of the country. The results indicate that violence against news workers has a twofold set of i
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mplications for the practice of professional journalism: On the one hand, constant attacks on media staff have promoted the development of a more elaborated journalistic performance, based upon factual reporting, diversification of sources, collaborative coverage, and the creation of journalists' associations. On the other hand, however, in many cases the same situation has also inhibited reporters' and newsrooms' jobs by forcing them to self-censorship and the dependence on government official versions of sensitive issues such as crime news or corruption, amongst other passive routines. The simultaneous coexistence of both outcomes provides evidence of the operation of multiple journalisms within the Mexican media system." (Abstract)
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"Violence against Mexican journalists has received significant attention from scholars at home and abroad during the last decade. However, though a diversity of issues have been consistently studied, there is one topic that is still largely neglected: the implications of technology for news workers
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security and their journalistic practice. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews with 93 journalists working in 23 of the most dangerous Mexican subnational entities, the aim of this article is to fill that gap. Empirical evidence from all over the country points to a nearly unanimous perception of digital technologies as being a “double-edged knife.” This is because electronic devices and social media may be used as a tool for developing better reporting practices, but also as a weapon against journalists, through – for instance – online harassment or espionage." (Abstract)
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"Drawing from 93 semi-structured, in-person interviews with journalists from 23 states, this article analyzes the relation between trust and risk perception in Mexican journalism. It focuses on how Mexican journalists perceive and experience public trust placed in them as social actors, and how it i
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nfluences their willingness or reluctance to assume the risks associated with reporting on corruption and drug-trafficking in a country marked by anti-press violence. The findings challenge previous studies as they show that journalists from all regions of the country –even in the so-called safe states– are fearful, even when they have not been victims of threats, beatings or kidnappings. Also, it explains that the connection between institutions and journalism makes news workers feel unprotected and unaccompanied. As a result, they accept self-censorship and even express a willingness to resign. Thus, this article surpasses the social, spatial and temporal delimitations of risk, by arguing that distrust in journalists increases the dangers they face." (Abstract)
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"The Handbook of Research on Combating Threats to Media Freedom and Journalist Safety is an essential reference source that evaluates how diverse threats impact on journalists wellbeing, their right to freedom of expression, and overall media freedoms in various contexts and assesses inadequacies in
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national security policies, planning, and coordination relating to the safety of journalists in different countries. Featuring research on topics such as freedom of the press, professional journalism, and media security, this book is ideally designed for journalists, news writers, editors, columnists, press, broadcasters, newscasters, government officials, lawmakers, diplomats, international relations officers, law enforcement, industry professionals, academicians, researchers, and students." (Abstract)
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"El estudio de los fenómenos comunicativos en las elecciones de México de 2015 constituye el punto de análisis en el presente volumen. En el marco normativo de un órgano electoral nuevo, el Instituto Nacional Electoral, las variaciones del tratamiento informativo y la presencia de estrategias me
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diáticas en la prensa, la radio y la televisión reforzaron la idea de unos medios de comunicación que fungieron como creadores de contextos interpretativos y agentes de control de la opinión pública, para el posicionamiento o deslegitimación de los candidatos ciudadanos y de los partidos políticos. Las elecciones intermedias demostraron, a pesar de la reforma electoral de 2014 y la participación de los candidatos independientes, que la regulación normativa del modelo de comunicación política tiene frente a sí a la diversidad de prácticas mediáticas y modulación discursiva como un universo de manifestaciones del lenguaje de la política, que se re-inventa a cada paso." (Editorial)
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