Frontline Club bloggers
Pakistan Teeters
“We’re watching a lot of cookery programmes and cricket!” cried one of my oldest Pakistani friends when I arrived at her house a week after General Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule. All Pakistan’s private news channels were taken off air on Saturday November 3rd when the general announced his second coup. Yet fuzzy TV […]
3 Para
British Paras are renowned more for prowess on the battlefield than media savvy. However, that reputation may need to be revised with the publication of 3 Para by Patrick Bishop. This book is an account of 3 Para Battle Group’s tour in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, last year. Throughout their six months on the ground, […]
French Century – An Illustrated history of Modern France
Brian Moynahan was the Sunday Times roving correspondent in the years before Rupert Murdoch bought the paper and turned it into the mail order catalogue that Don McCullin called it under the editorship of Andrew Neil. (McCullin’s public observation was undoubtedly the reason Neil fired him, although war photography and investigative reporting were anyway not […]
Hillary’s Comeback
It would make a great film, but it makes an even better story: the wife of a former president, humiliated by his philandering and lies in office, is poised to succeed him, and in the process become the first female head of state in the world’s sole superpower. The resurrection of Hillary Clinton from embattled […]
Witness expands into citizen journalism
Witness, the human rights organization co-founded by Peter Gabriel, launched an online community portal last week aimed at encouraging citizen journalists out there to pick up their cameras and bear witness. The move is evidence of how journalism is becoming incerasing blurred with activism in the ever-expanding multi-media world. The Hub is aimed at encouraging […]
Mexican reform to change relationship between media and Government
A new electoral reform goes into effect in Mexico today that aims to redefine the relationship between the country’s major broadcasters and the government, and to level the political playing field. The changes to the constitution could help improve the quality of media editorial in Mexico, and help it to become more politically independent than […]
Drug-cartels kill journalists, says CPJ. But what about the Government?
Drug-fuelled violence against the press in Mexico is spreading. A report released yesterday by the Committee to Protect Journalists says more journalists are being killed or persecuted whilst covering the drug trade and the powerful Gulf and Sinaloa cartels in the country. But the research from the NGO fails to address the high levels of […]
Two journalists attacked in Cuernavaca, say reports
Reports are surfacing in Mexico today that two journalists in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, were detained and one of them abused by state police over the weekend. CENCOS (Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social) is circulating a release stating that journalists Óscar López and Ariel RamÃrez Arrieta, of the cultural publication “El Perro Azul”, were […]
People Profile: Spokesman Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos Spokesman By Deborah Bonello Of all Mexicans that one might have known prior to arriving here, SubCommandante Marcos – or Delegado Cero as he now prefers to be known – is definitely one of them. His image abroad as the mask-wearing, pipe-smoking mestizo who fights for the indigenous cause rivals that of another […]
People Profile: Straight Shooter Dario Ramirez
Dario Ramirez Straight Shooter By Deborah Bonello DarÃo RamÃrez is no naïve idealist. The 35-year-old head of Article 19’s Mexico chapter – an organization that defends and promotes freedom of expression — has been a human rights activist for more than a decade. He bluntly describes the United Nations as a “slow elephant,†Mexico’s NGO […]
Day of the Dead Dance in Tetela de Volcan, Mexico
[video:bliptv:472665] Tetela de Volcan is a small, traditional town in the state of Morelos, Mexico overlooked by the volcano Popocatepetl, also known as Popo. Here, the locals spend the days of November 1st and 2nd in their local cemeteries, tending to the graves of their loved ones and spending time with their families. In their […]
Dia de Muertos in Tetela de Volcan
Dia de Muertos in Tetela de Volcan, originally uploaded by MexicoReporter. MexicoReporter.com spent the Dia De Muertos festival in Tetela del Volcan. Click here for the photo story set.
Brad Will shot at close range, says investigation
Brad Will was shot by an assailant (s) just 50 centimeters away, and not from a distance of 30 meters as originally thought, according to the latest findings of the investigation of the Attorney General on the case in Mexico. Results from the investigation into the death of the American IndyMedia journalist, shot dead in […]
Rednecks, hippies and batty biologists – 4/11/07
In the annals of our small and humble valley, it was a notable gathering of scientific minds. An accomplished skink man, a bat expert, a Chinese medicine practitioner and a clutch of bear biologists all gathered around our dinner table last weekend to swap ursine opinions. We had sent out an invitation to the eminences […]
Press Freedom Fighters Demand Legal Action in Mexico
Demands have been sent to the Mexican Government from international press freedom organisations this week calling for more vigorous legal proceedings and investigations into cases of violence against journalists. Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists both sent letters to government officials this week following the one year anniversary of the death of […]
Oaxaca Remembers Brad Will
As many as 20,000 people gathered in Oaxaca City on Saturday this weekend to remember Brad Will, the American journalist shot dead a year ago. The marchers also walked in memory of the Oaxacan teacher Alonso Fabian who was shot dead the same day during clashes between teachers and members of the APPO, and municipal […]
Female Mariachi’s Croon in Mexican Plaza
Mariachi Sonidos de America Feminil are defying Mexican tradition. A female band of Mariachis, the group of women musicians are confronting the macho culture of the Mariachi to give it a feminine touch. The group plays every night of the weekend in Mexico’s Plaza de Garibaldi. More to come from MexicoReporter.com on the mariachis….. Formats […]
One Year On, Supporters of Dead Journalist Oppose U.S Drugs Cash Proposal
Groups demanding justice for the murder of U.S journalist Brad Will, who was shot dead in Oaxaca, Mexico on this day last year, are opposing the $1.4 billion security proposal put forward by President George Bush this week as part of an initiative to help the country fight its illegal drugs trafficking problem. Supporters demanding […]
'Mexican newspapers don't explain Mexico' says journalist
Mexican newspaper publishers sell only three million newspapers a day in a country with a population of 106 million. Most Mexican journalists will tell you that Mexican's don't read because Mexican newspapers have yet to get round to the job of 'explaining Mexico', according to Ronald Buchanan, a Scottish freelance journalist based in Mexico City. […]
Punks Collect Downtown at El Chopo
El Chopo is a weekly fleamarket that has been going for 27 years in Mexico City. Punters can pick up anything from original Doc Marten boots to a copy of ‘London Calling’ by the Clash in the stalls that line the market streets. Click on the photo for more pictures.
English Newspaper Hits Streets of Mexico, Pledging Independence
English language newspaper The News hit the streets of Mexico City today after a five year hiatus. Its directors have promised a more independent tone this time around. In its prior incarnation The News kept its head under the parapet, preferring to keep its advertisers and powerful readers happy rather than rocking the boat.
Lady of the Barricade
As exciting and glamorous a companion as you could hope for while travelling down a deserted road toward a smoking horizon, in many respects Alexandra Boulat epitomised the image of the woman photojournalist. French, tall, straight-backed, graceful, striking; she never conducted herself with anything less than poise and style. Brave and funny, her legendary moods […]
‘Mexican Government is main perpetrator of violence against journalists in Mexico’, says human rights expert
‘The Mexican Government is one of the main perpetrators of violence against journalists in the country and complicit in its continuance,’ according to one of the country's leading freedom of expression organisations. Mexico is reportedly the second most dangerous country to work as a journalist after Iraq. But speaking to MexicoReporter.com last week Dario Ramirez, […]
Arena de Mexico Mascara-Seller makes nearly $1000 dollars on a good night
José Carmelo is 33 years old and has been working outside the Arena de Mexico selling mascaras for 20 years. He got into this line of work thought his brothers, who used to have another shop outside another lucha venue – el Toreo de Cuatro Caminos. Click on the picture for more photos.
What does the Tlatelolco Massacre mean today?
MexicoReporter interviewed Salvador Martinez dela Roca, a student leader at the time of the Tlateloloco Massacre, about his thoughts on what the tragedy means today and why people march. Watch the film here, and click here for more on Tlatelolco: Mexico Remembers Massacre Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv) Tags: newcorrespondent, mexicoreporter, tlatelolco, […]
Mexico Remembers Massacre
Ana Ignacia Rodriguez Marquez, now in her sixties, stood in La Plaza de Las Tres Culturas on Tuesday this week, October 2nd, in the same place that she had stood nearly 40 years ago. It was from that very spot that she saw students, men, women and children gunned down by state police and officials […]
An Evening with SubComandante Marcos
It was rather an unlikely setting for a press conference with one of the world's most famous rebel leaders, Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army(EZLN). Mexico City's Casa Lamm, a cultural centre and converted mansion in the Roma neighbourhood is the kind of place you expect to see expats and well-off Mexican families […]
Wildlife-Viewing Journal – 30/09/07
So our second grizzly bear season since moving to the ranch is well underway. So far all our guests – and this year we have been pretty much full – have left after seeing at least a few grizzlies. Some have seen many. To keep our guests and friends up-to-date with the latest we have […]
Newsnight – report from Sangin valley, Helmand, Afghanistan
This is the full 16 minute documentary that originally aired on BBC Newsnight on 26 September, 2007. It’s available for download on Google Video. My original text from the evening that I returned from Sangin: I have been out on operations with Colour Sergeant Jim Bastin of the Inkerman Company and a platoon of the […]
World Press Photo exhibition opens in Mexico City
The World Press Photo awards exhibition opened in Mexico City's beautiful Franz Meyer museum last night in collaboration with Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights. The event was attended by hundreds, and features 200 photographs representing the best in press photography of last year. Images in the show range from photographs of conflict zones to […]
