Censor or die: The death of Mexican news in the age of drug cartels

[grarpamp]

> “You do it or you die, and nobody wants to
> die,” he said. “Auto censura — self-censorship — that’s our shield.”

> The enlaces are part of the deeply institutionalized system of cartel
> censorship imposed on media outlets in ...

... modern industrial civil democratic western countries.

> In February, the last time El Mañana defied a cartel’s censorship
> rules...

... they were forced to destroy their laptops.

> Cartels install surveillance cameras throughout their cities and employ
lookouts with cellphones to keep watch.

... stingrays and fiber taps too.

> “a pretty friendly guy,” calls enlaces and
> beat reporters at El Mañana and other media outlets every day to tell
> them what stories the cartel wants published or censored. One day it’s
> a story critical of new government limits

"Hey, so we were going to publish some of these TOP SECRET
docs we have, out of "courtesy" and "patriotism" is there anything
you want us to redact?"

> an editor who was kidnapped by the cartel in February because the paper defied its news blackout...

... now spends their time holed up in embassies and foreign lands.