ATTACKS ON REPORTERS FOCUS OF UTEP EVENT

Attacks against journalists who report on Mexico and the border region
will be the focus of a conference Sunday and Monday at the University
of Texas at El Paso.

The American Society of News Editors, or ASNE, and the Inter American
Press Association, or IAPA, are co-sponsoring the "Border Newspapers
Editors Summit," in conjunction with UTEP, The Associated Press and
the El Paso Times.

The gathering will feature journalists; representatives of ASNE, IAPA
and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists; and Mexican officials.

"The border summit will address the very serious issue of journalists
working in Mexico and how we as an industry protect these journalists
while encouraging their work," El Paso Times Editor Chris Lopez said.

"El Paso Times reporters and photographers are among the many
journalists working in Mexico, and we remain committed to the story.

"We need our journalists inside Mexico reporting and documenting the
drug war and ensuing violence, and we need to make sure of their
safety as they perform their jobs.

"The El Paso Times stands in unity with Mexican journalists and all
journalists who are risking their lives reporting out of Mexico. This
conference will help bring attention to the dangerous but necessary
role of journalists working in Mexico and how we can protect them and
support their work."

According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, at least
24 Mexican journalists have been killed during the past four years, an
increasing number that coincides with the alarming drug violence
that's claimed thousands of lives in Juarez and the rest of Mexico in
the same period.

Journalists who were not killed have reported being harassed,
threatened or persecuted.

Journalists from Juarez have sought refuge in countries such as Canada
and Spain. Others have applied for U.S. asylum.

"The goal of the program, which will be presented in English and
Spanish, is to draw on resources, ideas and leadership in both Mexico
and the U.S., to begin to identify a response to the violence that has
taken the lives of at least 11 journalists in Mexico this year," the
ASNE said in a statement.

Alfredo Carbajal, managing editor of Al Dia in Dallas, said the summit
is intended to put a spotlight on the dangers to journalists in Mexico
and the border region.

"We travel to other countries around the world to advocate for freedom
of the press, and this is an opportunity to do that closer to home,"
Carbajal said. "We hope to generate a dialogue and develop guidelines
on best practices of journalism and to protect journalists."

Alejandro Junco de la Vega, CEO and chairman of Mexico's Grupo
Reforma, which owns the Mexico City-based Reforma and other
newspapers, will be the keynote speaker Monday.

Andres Oppenheimer, the Miami Herald's Latin American editor and
syndicated columnist, will be a moderator for one of the panels.
Oppenheimer was co-winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami
Herald team that uncovered the Iran-Contra scandal.

The summit will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Tomas Rivera
Conference Room of the UTEP Union.