The first in a series of IAPA videos takes place in Nuevo Laredo, where the "El Mañana" newspaper finds itself caught up in the fight against the illegal drug trade.
(IAPA/IFEX) – Miami, October 12, 2010 – Under the title “Impunidad, el periodismo en la mira”, (Impunity, the Press in the Sights) the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today launched on its Youtube channel a series of videos highlighting its international campaign to put an end to the impunity surrounding crimes against journalists.
The documentaries, each some five minutes long, in Spanish with English sub-titles, depict events occurring in places regarded as the most dangerous for the free practice of journalism in the Americas, such as Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Peru, and showing the lack of punishment in cases of the murder of a reporter and/or attacks on news media outlet offices.
The first in the series, “Bajo la línea de fuego” (In the Line of Fire), takes place in Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border town on whose streets the federal government is fighting the illicit drug trade, while the local newspaper El Mañana finds itself caught in the midst of the battle, with bullet marks still on the walls of its newsroom and reporter Jaime Orozco who, while working at his computer, was shot in the back, leaving him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Journalists in Nuevo Laredo now work under the slogan “No news item is worth a life”, while editor Ramón Cantú, whose grandfather founded the paper in 1932 with pride in its press freedom, regrets having to tell his reporters to adopt self-censorship practices. “This is no time for heroics,” he says. “The institutions are beyond their limits, we have no guarantees. Our police beat reporter covers only accidents, crimes of passion, perhaps a robbery, but he doesn’t get involved in the drug scene.”
The IAPA videos were produced by the Dutch company VJMovement and the general public is invited to see them free of charge by going to http://www.youtube.com/ProyectoImpunidad#p/a/u/0/8Dqgn1wbxJw , where they can also view Impunity Project documentaries and other videos.
