Earlier this week, Boing Boing published an email interview with the elusive author of Blog Del Narco. This is the longest published interview I have seen with the anonymous blogger whose extensive reporting on the activities of Mexico’s drug gangs has brought international attention to his website. Following the hype, we recently asked two members of Global Integrity’s Mexico field staff to contextualize Blog Del Narco in the nation’s greater media environment. While John and Leonarda both downplayed citizen journalism as a long-term answer to confront issues of journalist intimidation, Blog Del Narco fills a current void by publishing narco-related stories that are not, as its author states, “pre-digested.”
You can read the full Boing Boing interview here. And for more background on the growing presence of narco-censorship in the Mexican press, see our recent Commons series:
Mexican Journalists Respond to “Narco Censorship” and Citizen Journalism (Part 1 of 2)
Self-Censorship is Not Preventative Action: Mexican Journalists Respond (Part 2 of 2)
For broader context, read the Global Integrity Report: Mexico.
– Norah Mallaney
