Journalist harrased and cornered by government

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perkana
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Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#1 Post by perkana » Sat Mar 14, 2015 9:40 pm

This makes me so sad and frustrated
Mexico’s version of WikiLeaks causes controversy before its first story
By Joshua Partlow (Washington Post)
There have been no classified diplomatic cables. No top-secret intelligence reports. No fugitive whistleblowers. And yet, Mexico's latest experiment in free speech, the new Web site MexicoLeaks, has already generated its own media mini-tempest.
The controversy started when one of the site's founders, the renowned radio and television journalist Carmen Aristegui, used the name of her network, Noticias MVS, when announcing the launch of the site this week. It asks people to anonymously submit documents that might shed light on Mexico's government corruption problem.
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That prompted a quick backpedaling by MVS, which claimed it didn't know about the site and had nothing to do with it. That was followed by an online wave of support for Aristegui, a recalibrating of MVS's position and lots of editorializing in the Mexican media.
That might have been the end of it, but then yesterday, MVS announced the firing of two of its journalists who worked on the MexicoLeaks project: Daniel Lizarraga and Irving Huerta. MVS said on its Web site that managers had "lost confidence" in the reporters and that it was unacceptable that they had formed such an alliance without higher-ups' knowledge or authorization. Aristegui said she "categorically rejects" their sacking. MVS's ombudsman, Gabriel Sosa Plata, called the company's response disproportionate and a pressure tactic.
Meanwhile, the Twitter hashtag #endefensadearistegui (in defense of Aristegui) took off, with people questioning the cozy ties between Mexican media and the government. Online petitions started up on change.org to keep Aristegui on the air and for her to be president.
"The voice of Carmen Aristegui is important and necessary," Elisa Alanis wrote in El Universal.
Last fall, Aristegui and her investigative team broke a big story that President Enrique Peña Nieto's wife, former actress Angelica Rivera, owned a luxurious house in Mexico City purchased by a prominent government contracting firm. It was later revealed that the finance minister also bought a home through the firm.
MexicoLeaks was launched by a group of media outlets and civil society groups, including the news magazine Proceso and the Web site Animal Politico, to break more of these types of stories. That its very existence has generated this much discussion in Mexico might ultimately help their cause.
I saw a video tonight in which Carmen Aristegui pretty much says that the company director was pressured obviously by the dinosaurs (EPN's government) that want journalism aligned with them and don't want to be scrutinized nor want to respond to all the shit they've done. She also made it clear yesterday that she wouldn't come back without her dismissed collaborators. She has her own news site and has a weekly CNN show, but this is a very critic blow to freedom of speech. She was fired before in '11 and was back thanks to her hardcore supporters. We will see, but this is really shitty.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#2 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:39 am

So last night she got sacked. We're definitely back to the dark ages.
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mockbee
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#3 Post by mockbee » Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:32 am

Perkana, you said a teacher was abducted/killed recently. Was that a purely terrorist act (wrong place/wrong time) or was he/she an "activist"? Do you have a link to an article, or any recent civilian violence/terrorism?

Sounds like it's getting worse. :wavesad:

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#4 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:52 am

...
Last edited by perkana on Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#5 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:55 am

mockbee wrote:Perkana, you said a teacher was abducted/killed recently. Was that a purely terrorist act (wrong place/wrong time) or was he/she an "activist"? Do you have a link to an article, or any recent civilian violence/terrorism?

Sounds like it's getting worse. :wavesad:
He was killed by cops or soldiers in Guerrero during a demonstration mockbee. He was beaten and died later in a hospital. He was an old guy. I remember that a week or 2 weeks ago human rights watch made a report about Mexico.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#6 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:01 am

Imagine having Fox News only. This is what our government wants.
"Like it or not, bother whoever it bothers, hers is a voice that is needed in a country like ours," said Alvaro Cueva, an analyst for the Milenio media group. "We cannot aspire to live in a society with options if all the news broadcasts always have the same news."
More recently, her groundbreaking reports have included, in addition to the mansions that the president's inner circle bought from a government contractor, a prostitution ring being run by the ruling party's representative in Mexico City; exposure of possible involvement of Mexico's largest broadcaster in a drug-smuggling ring in Central America; and revelations that the revered founder of a powerful Catholic order based in Mexico had fathered children and abused young men.
"We who have space [to work] must do so, despite the fear, which obliges you to be more rigorous and to always improve," she said.
"I have tried to be true … to my audience. It is the permanent battle of journalism."
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-ame ... story.html
Just read she's going to sue her bosses.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#7 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:05 pm

mockbee wrote:Perkana, you said a teacher was abducted/killed recently. Was that a purely terrorist act (wrong place/wrong time) or was he/she an "activist"? Do you have a link to an article, or any recent civilian violence/terrorism?

Sounds like it's getting worse. :wavesad:
Here's an opinion article about the whole situation (it's in Spanish, but you can translate it, at least chrome lets you)
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/03/02/opinion/028a1pol

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#8 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:17 pm

The decision to attack Aristegui at this time precisely is also due to the electoral situation. The campaigns for federal deputies begin next April 5. A balanced and equitable coverage of the candidates, as the one offered by Aristegui, is certainly a threat to the corrupt and corrupting power.
There is an urge for Peña Nieto to shift, control and silence Aristegui. We need to defend her and all the brave journalists who daily risk their lives in pursuit of truth, all the way.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/03/16/politica/016a2pol

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#9 Post by mockbee » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:53 pm

perkana wrote:
mockbee wrote:Perkana, you said a teacher was abducted/killed recently. Was that a purely terrorist act (wrong place/wrong time) or was he/she an "activist"? Do you have a link to an article, or any recent civilian violence/terrorism?

Sounds like it's getting worse. :wavesad:
Here's an opinion article about the whole situation (it's in Spanish, but you can translate it, at least chrome lets you)
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/03/02/opinion/028a1pol

Thanks, I will definitely read that.

Posiblimente leo primero en espanol, mi espanol es muy malo ahora, no me practicar para un largo tiempo. Entonces leere en ingles con translation. No accentos porque soy perezoso..... lo siento para este espanol. :lol:


:wave:

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#10 Post by perkana » Mon Mar 16, 2015 2:36 pm

Nada mal señor :cool:

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#11 Post by perkana » Thu Mar 26, 2015 3:28 pm

Two weeks now off the air. I really miss her radio show :sad:

Her judicial team is working now on how to fight against the radio station directors. And today is 6 months since the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa students and no recent news about them.

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#12 Post by clickie » Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:21 pm

Unfortunately, It seems like such a common occurrence for people to disappear in Mexico.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#13 Post by perkana » Tue Apr 14, 2015 8:50 am

I really admire this woman...I'll be filing a civil suit against our government for depriving us of radio newsworthy shows like the one they pulled the plug off.
“I suddenly had a clearer understanding than ever of the power that journalism has to give a voice to those who have been silenced by the crushing weight of violence.”

So wrote Mexico’s best-known journalist and human rights campaigner, Lydia Cacho, upon seeing her colleagues from the press gather to cover her arrival for interrogation before judges at Puebla, central Mexico, after what she calls a “legal kidnap” by the police.

The first stage of that prolonged ordeal 10 years ago had been a terrifying 36-hour drive from her home in the coastal state of Quintana Roo to the courthouse and jail, during which she had been sexually violated, threatened with death and “disappearance”, and horribly intimidated.


Cacho was to be charged with libel after the publication of a book, The Demons of Eden, which revealed a sex-trafficking and pederast-paedophile ring with connections to power on high. The appalling story of power’s revenge, its searing impact on Cacho and the implications of the affair for all reporters is told in a further book, Memorias de una Infamia (Memories of Infamy), in which, vindicated by subsequent events and trials, Cacho demonstrates that the pederasts and sex criminals were protected by the governor of Puebla state, by the judiciary and by people even higher up – with connections also to drug trafficking.

The foreword is written by the one reporter who worked alongside Cacho during her ordeal, revealing crucial material – including phone taps – that swung the narrative from the jaws of incarceration and torture into her favour. This was Carmen Aristegui, Mexico’s most famous broadcaster, who was sacked last month by her employer, MVS Radio, after revealing that the wife of President Enrique Peña Nieto had acquired a vast luxury property from a group that had won several lucrative government contracts.

The fate of the two journalists has stirred to fever pitch the discourse about repression of free speech and the acute physical dangers faced by journalists in Mexico. Scores of reporters have been killed – often tortured and decapitated – in what is now seen as a pincer-movement against their work by drug cartels and the state.
Cacho – who has won innumerable awards for her work and was made a Chevalier d’Honneur of the French Republic – will rally support this week for Aristegui and her endangered colleagues at the London Book Fair, part of a PEN festival focusing on Mexico.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a ... ydia-cacho

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#14 Post by clickie » Wed Apr 15, 2015 5:44 am

Hey, if you like her she's cool with me.

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#15 Post by Essence_Smith » Wed Apr 15, 2015 7:09 am

I think perkana needs her own show... :love: :wink: :hehe:

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#16 Post by perkana » Wed Apr 15, 2015 4:15 pm

Oh gosh, I love music and movie shows. Too bad I'm shy and I'm not into trying to find new bands. Though I do enjoy listening a lot to NPR music shows like Tiny Desk Concert, All Songs Considered and KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Those guys are older than me but they have music that I like. All the new music for the young crowd sounds the same to me.

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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#17 Post by clickie » Wed Apr 15, 2015 4:28 pm

I know, it must be hard for whoevever has to choose a line up for these festival like lollapaloooza or coachella.

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#18 Post by perkana » Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:01 am

You know they have to use Kings of Leon always :jasper:

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perkana
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Re: Journalist harrased and cornered by government

#19 Post by perkana » Fri Apr 24, 2015 1:14 pm

So this happened this week too. Jorge Ramos, a news anchor for Univisión, was named one of the 100 most influential latinos by Time Magazine. He gave the next speech during a dinner:

And last night he gave an interview to Carmen Aristegui (although she hasn't gotten her news radio show back, she still has a CNN show).

Pretty much he says that if there was corruption when Peña Nieto gave those contracts to those building contractors and received that house in payment, he has to resign. To be honest, personally, I don't care for Ramos, he's kinda too Fox News to me and other people have said that it's so easy to do this abroad and not here in my country, it still feels good. No word from Peña Nieto yet. So far, there is a campaign started by artists, academics and polticians that are asking people to print a ballot in which we ask Peña Nieto to resign and put it in with the rest of the ballots next June elections. Since there is no impeachment trial and we can't ask for a referendum for this, we know it won't be legal but we know that it has to be noted as an incident.

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