Talk:List of journalists killed in the Mexican Drug War

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Mexico

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Journalism

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Format[edit]

Hey, thanks for creating the article, GiantSnowman. Is there anything you want to discuss here before we go along? A quick Google search took me to a page from Terra Networks that gives a list of the journalist killed in Mexico. [1] However, they're from 2000–2011 (and the Mexican Drug War is often said to have begun in 2006). If you ask me, the journalist killed before the drug war should be included too. ComputerJA (talk) 19:04, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No problems, should make for an interesting topic. As long as we set out the inclusion criteria, state it clearly - the victim had to be a journalist, and their death has to have been linked to the drug war/drug cartels etc. by a reliable source - then it should be fine. Do you approve of the current format of the table? i.e. date, name, location, reference? Giant Snowman 19:08, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, the format looks pretty good. I took a look at the Committee to Protect Journalists official website and it gives more info on death of the journalists. Do you think we should put the newspaper they worked for, if they were taken captive, tortured, etc.? [2] I don't want to make the table huge, but do you feel anything else should be added? ComputerJA (talk) 19:43, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We could maybe just add one new column, titled 'Details', which lists anything of note regarding the life/death? So that could include what paper(s) they wrote for, and how they died (without being overly graphic). Sound good? Giant Snowman 19:45, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah. I'm down for that. ComputerJA (talk) 19:53, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Disappearances[edit]

I'm also including the journalists whose whereabouts are unknown. I added a Note on each of those to avoid any removals for not being "killed." ComputerJA (talk) 13:36, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Higher figures[edit]

Most of the media says that they are about 80 journalist killed since 2000; nonetheless, I've found much more than 80, that's for sure. I'm guessing most media outlets only count the journalist that work for newspapers, and discard photographers, independent journalists, television and radio commentators, etc. I'll make sure to always cite my information to avoid any removals. ComputerJA (talk) 05:22, 22 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I think I'm done. I'll be adding background info on why journalist are targeted, just to avoid readers from having any questions. Hopefully the 2012 list doesn't get bigger. Let's hope. ComputerJA (talk) 02:22, 23 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Woah, shocking figures indeed. Good work, and good idea splitting into 'before' and 'after' the Drug War - was going to suggest it myself but you beat me to it! Thanks, Giant Snowman 13:49, 23 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

More journalists from the 1960s to 80s[edit]

Hello.

I have a source that lists some other journalists from the the 60s thru 80s, but I'm not sure if it is a reliable source. [3] It is a webpage managed by some online reporters that talk about politics in the state of Veracruz. [4] I'll include them after I do some research in Google Books. However, it will be hard to find the journalists killed during that time, considering the amount of censorship in Mexico during the PRI regime. ComputerJA (talk) 21:40, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, some guy [Donato Corzo Ruiz] was killed in 1866. Not sure if I should include it, but here's the link. [5] ComputerJA (talk) 06:21, 3 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm done for the rest of the week, but here's a list of journalists from various sources. The sources seem to be unreliable, but I've gotten a number of journalists from this list by searching on Google. I'll do the same next weekend. [6][7][8] ComputerJA (talk) 22:23, 3 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed biographies[edit]

Do you have any suggestions for journalists listed here who are in need of a biography in Wikipedia? Which ones rise to the top in order of importance to the project? Here are some proposed biographies -- we could add more -- a "to do list" for the next several months:

Killed journalists:

Arturo Barajas López & José Antonio Aguilar Mota (This may be problematic because their identity as journalists has been questioned.)
Victor Manuel Baez Chino
Marco Antonio Ávila García
Raúl Régulo Quirino Garza
Guillermo Luna Varela / Gabriel Huge Córdoba / Esteban Rodríguez Rodríguez / Ana Irasema Becerra Jiménez (publicist)
Regina Martínez Pérez
Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro
María Isabella Cordero
Rodolfo Rincón Taracena

Missing journalists:

Mario A. Segura
Zane Plemmons (Zane Alejandro Plemmons Rosales)
José Antonio García Apac

Your suggestions would be appreciated. Crtew (talk) 03:57, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Among the most important (or the ones who got a lot of coverage both in Mexico and internationally) are Victor Manuel Baez Chino, Guillermo Luna Varela / Gabriel Huge Córdoba / Esteban Rodríguez Rodríguez / Ana Irasema Becerra, Regina Martínez Pérez, and Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro.

Víctor Manuel was from Milenio, a major news outlet in Mexico. His death and investigation has been covered extensively by the media. Not to mention the fact that they managed to arrest one of the killers (something quite rare in Mexico's justice system).

The other four were tortured, killed, and then dumped in plastic bags on the same day in Veracruz, the most violent state in Mexico for journalists. They were killed on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, and that prompted a lot of reactions internationally. You can also consider making a single article for the massacre, since the investigation for all of them will probably be the same (see Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, for example). If you decide to do that, we can redirect the names into the single article for people who are searching for one of these journalists individually. Just a thought.

Regina, from Proceso, also got a lot of coverage. The way she died, "...badly beaten around the face and ribs and ... strangled to death..." sent shockwaves across Mexico.

Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro is a special case too, since she was reporting the drug war anonymously through Twitter and a crime-beat blog. [9]

Plemmons is quite a unique case since he is an American journalist. However, all of the sources mention the same thing: he went out of a hotel in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas – one of the strongholds of Los Zetas – to take some pictures of a shootout, but never made it back. Other sources say that several masked gunmen went to his hotel and took him. [10] The investigation is slow and we know so little about him.

As for the other journalists, only their deaths/disappearances were covered. ComputerJA (talk) 05:16, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I could add about 10 more names to the above list. We're making this list part of our class project along with Syria and Somalia.Crtew (talk) 14:12, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Separate article for censorship?[edit]

The article is growing too long, and there is a lot more to talk about censorship in Mexico besides what is presented in the intro. I was thinking about moving the information on the intro to a separate article, maybe Censorship in Mexico, like Censorship in the United States. I noticed that the "List articles" don't have large intros. ComputerJA (talk) 20:17, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good. Currently, the template "Censorship by country" does not have Mexico listed and it is needed. You would have add Mexico to the template when you create the article "Censorship in Mexico".Crtew (talk) 01:22, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll take care of it in a few days. Since most of the info we have is on the drug war, we'll have to focus on why journalists were killed before 2006. Cheers, ComputerJA (talk) 06:34, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Duplicated categories?[edit]

There are two categories covering the same topic: Category:Journalists killed in Mexico & Category:Assassinated Mexican journalists. Should we merge them and have just one? Category:Journalists killed in Mexico has more entries.--QuimGil (talk) 21:51, 24 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi QuimGil, I've done some categorization in this area. The category description for "Assassination" says the term should only be used for politically-motivated killings, and so this category should come up less often here. It would be appropriate to use this category when a killing is motivated by both drugs and politics. As for the difference between "Murdered journalists" and "Killed in Mexico", the key is in the parent category. Murdered journalists emphasizes the circumstances of death (distinguished between suicide, protest-related deaths, mob killings and such), while killed in Mexico should emphasize place. Murder and assassination should not be used together. Every single one of these journalists should have the category killed in Mexico. I hope this clears things up. Thank you for working on this project! Crtew (talk) 22:02, 24 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Televisa worker kidnapped; name not released[edit]

A Televisa worker from the state of Chihuahua was kidnapped by gunman. His name was not released. Should we include him either way? I doubt the government will bring forth his name anytime soon. [11] ComputerJA (talk) 17:05, 22 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Press chief of a municipality is killed[edit]

A press chief (jefe de prensa) was killed in Ruiz, Nayarit today. I'm not completely sure what the job entails, but should he be considered a journalist of some kind? [12] ComputerJA (talk) 21:41, 7 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If we want to keep the list restricted to journalists, this victim doesn't seem to be one. He studied commerce [13], and with 24 years there is no mention of a job in communication prior to the position of "head of communications" in the local council. There are mentions about books he wrote [14], but by the names they sound inspirational / religious. There are no clues about the motivation of the killing, but he seemed to belong to a known local family, was active in the PAN and all in all it doesn't sound like the cause was among the usual for journalists reporting on crime and corruption [15].--QuimGil (talk) 05:43, 8 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Cool, I think you're right. Let's keep the list strictly for people who have worked in newspapers or other media outlets. Thanks for the second opinion. ComputerJA (talk) 05:57, 8 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

GA nomination[edit]

I'll be working on this article to make it reach Good Article status. Among the things I will do is probably rename the title to "List of journalists killed in Mexico" (to give it a better scope). I will also fix the boxes by adding the journalists' media outlets and their status (whether Dead or Disappeared). Aside from that, I'll be giving the prose a second look for other issues that might come up. Thanks. ComputerJA (☎ • ✎) 16:53, 15 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]