THE MEXICAN PRESS IN PERIL

Beheadings and murders of police would seem like ideal grist for
opportunistic news organizations. So why are some parts of the
Mexican press staying silent during the recent savage fighting
between drug cartels? Because they themselves are in the crosshairs.
The most recent victim was the newspaper Cambio Sonora, published in
Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora. Violence--including
two grenade attacks on its offices-- caused the newspaper to announce
on May 24 that it was temporarily shutting down. Seven journalists
have been murdered in Mexico since October, mostly in retaliation for
reporting on the drug cartels. And two television reporters covering
the crisis went missing this month.

In some places, like the bloodied border city of Nuevo Laredo,
frightened media simply avoid covering the violence. But Cambio
Sonora is the first paper to close. "It's huge," says Carlos Lauria,
Americas coordinator for the New York--based Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ). "It points up the inability of the Mexican
authorities to provide security in the face of this threat."

The crisis also proves how successful the strategy of terrorist
intimidation has been. The CPJ, in fact, is investigating a growing
number of reports about Mexican journalists who have become well-paid
"publicists" for one cartel or the other--inserting material into
their newspapers or broadcasts, for example, that can burnish a
kingpin's image or tarnish that of a rival.

Since taking office last December, Mexican President Felipe Calderon
has deployed almost 25,000 army troops to battle the cartels. So far,
the bloodshed has only escalated. And now, there are fewer people
left to honestly report what's happening on the ground.