Description
Media plays an important role in the continued process of democratization and opening in Mexico. By corroborating facts and providing analysis, the media is vital to the capacity for, and the validity of, civic participation. Though the Mexican press seems vibrant due to an abundance of news outlets across the three major medias radio, television, and print journalists continue to face physical violence at the hands of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and, in some cases, members of the local or municipal police. Though less viscerally shocking than physical violence, economic threats and incentives also threaten freedom of the press. Among the lowest paid professionals in Mexico, journalists have historically endured economic manipulation through the institutionalization of press-release journalism, through which political parties and government officials, notably the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), incentivized the rehashing of official statements and government information without due diligence. This research project seeks to determine if Mexican journalists continue to be economically manipulated by their government, specifically in terms of government advertising, hirings and firings, and incentives such a bribes. This paper will also connect the apparent degree of modern press freedom to historical press manipulation, and fortify the deep connection between freedom of press, freedom of information, and democracy.
Economic Manipulation of the Mexican Media
Media plays an important role in the continued process of democratization and opening in Mexico. By corroborating facts and providing analysis, the media is vital to the capacity for, and the validity of, civic participation. Though the Mexican press seems vibrant due to an abundance of news outlets across the three major medias radio, television, and print journalists continue to face physical violence at the hands of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and, in some cases, members of the local or municipal police. Though less viscerally shocking than physical violence, economic threats and incentives also threaten freedom of the press. Among the lowest paid professionals in Mexico, journalists have historically endured economic manipulation through the institutionalization of press-release journalism, through which political parties and government officials, notably the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), incentivized the rehashing of official statements and government information without due diligence. This research project seeks to determine if Mexican journalists continue to be economically manipulated by their government, specifically in terms of government advertising, hirings and firings, and incentives such a bribes. This paper will also connect the apparent degree of modern press freedom to historical press manipulation, and fortify the deep connection between freedom of press, freedom of information, and democracy.