This topic has been looming around in my head for some time now. Though I am not a media reporter or journalist, the story hits home due to my editorial blog participation with Americas Quarterly.

I must admit that I’ve even censored some commentary and skewed away from particular stories in order to protect myself and my family and I don’t even discuss specifics in any of my blog posts (in part because I don’t have them, but also because I like to discuss the challenges more from a systemic point of view than going after particular cases).

I don’t get paid for my words in AQBlog, I participate voluntarily because it is my way to try to contribute to the path my country should be taking on different subjects, including the rise of violence and insecurity. Self-censorship due to fear is a VERY real situation in Mexico right now, and it is not at all unfounded.

I seriously recommend reading the full article, of which I provide an initial excerpt here:

(Reuters) – After a news report detailing the capture of several members of Mexico’s ruthless Zetas drug gang ran on television in the northern city of Monterrey, the reporter’s phone rang.

“My job isn’t to warn you, it’s to kill you. If you carry on with this, we’re going to run into each other,” the anonymous voice warned just days after the story aired.

“They knew everything about me, where I lived, how many kids I have and their names,” said the journalist, who asked not to be identified by name.

For the last two years, northeastern Mexico’s Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states have been ravaged by bloody battles between rival drug gangs and horrific massacres of migrants. But don’t expect to read much about it in the local media.

Reporters in large swathes of the country now censor their own coverage, fearful of reprisals by ruthless drug gangs and corrupt police on their payroll.

Read the full article here.