Mexican Newspaper's New Ombudsman: Drug Cartels
If you're ever feeling depressed about the decline of newspapers in America, just be thankful you're not in Mexico—where a newspaper's been reduced to politely asking drug cartels for editorial guidance, in exchange for not being murdered.
El Diario de Juarez, the biggest paper in Ciudad Juarez, has had two employees assassinated this year. Yesterday, the paper ran a front-page editorial essentially asking drug gangs for censorship guidelines.
"Leaders of the different organizations that are fighting for control of Ciudad Juarez: The loss of two reporters from this publishing house in less than two years represents an irreparable sorrow for all of us who work here, and, in particular, for their families," the editorial said. "We ask you to explain what you want from us, what we should try to publish or not publish, so we know what to expect."
Jesus Christ that's sad. Not that we're blaming them; most Mexican papers in their position already gave up on serious crime reporting long ago. But god damn.
