Double-edged knife: practices and perceptions of technology and digital security among Mexican journalists in violent contexts

Abstract

Violence against Mexican journalists has received significant attention from scholars at home and abroad during the last decade. However, though a diversity of issues have been consistently studied, there is one topic that is still largely neglected: the implications of technology for news workers' security and their journalistic practice. Drawing on a set of semistructured interviews with 93 journalists working in 23 of the most dangerous Mexican subnational entities, the aim of this article is to fill that gap. Empirical evidence from all over the country points to a nearly unanimous perception of digital technologies as being a "double-edged knife." This is because electronic devices and social media may be used as a tool for developing better reporting practices, but also as a weapon against journalists, throughfor instanceonline harassment or espionage.

Trabajar por amor al arte: precariedad laboral como forma de violencia contra los periodistas en México

“…Es por lo anterior que los ataques contra los informadores se han convertido en un foco de atención académica, tanto nacional como internacional. Bajo diferentes enfoques tanto teóricos como metodológicos, los principales estudios se han concentrado en diversos ángulos, tales como la conformación de colectivos de periodistas como respuesta a los constantes ataques (De León, 2018); el impacto psicológico de cubrir temas como el crimen organizado (Flores et al, 2014;González, 2020); la erosión de las normas profesionales (González y Relly, 2016;González et al, 2021); la desconfianza social en los periodistas y sus implicaciones para las coberturas de alto riesgo (González y Reyna, 2019); o el uso de tecnologías digitales como medida de protección contra posibles agresiones durante el reporteo de temas sensibles (González y Rodelo, 2020). Asimismo, hay un creciente interés en la predicción de amenazas y agresiones, al considerar que hay ciertas regiones, temáticas y actitudes profesionales más peligrosas que otras (Hughes y Márquez-Ramírez, 2018;Salazar, 2019).…”

Caught in the Middle: Internal and External Pressures on the Coverage of Organized Crime in Mexico

“…As stated previously, and following the Hierarchy of Influences Model (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, 2014), we found that the internal pressures that publishers and editors-in-chief exert on the coverage of organized crime is different with respect to other topics. On the one hand, managers, in this sense, are aware that journalists may be subject to serious threats and violence (see also González & Rodelo, 2020). But, on the other, they also highlight the impact that these issues can have given the relationship between organized crime and other spheres of Mexican political and business life, which, as Márquez-Ramírez & Hughes (2016) points out, can certainly influence journalists.…”

Values and vendettas: Populist science governance in Mexico

“…While Astillero has vehemently denied media accusations of outright censorship, particularly in comparison with the PRI era, press freedom organization Article 19 -itself already denounced by AMLO as an international 'conservative' organization -and other ONGs have pointed out that Mexico remains one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist (Agren, 2021a). González-Quiñones and Machin-Mastromatteo's (2019, p. 668) meta-study of journalistic violence in Mexico concludes that, contradicting the government's claims, aggression against journalist from organized crime involves 'around 14% of the cases, while the State is implicated in around 43%', a view seconded by Arnoldo González and Rodelo (2020).…”