Anonymous Mexican Blog Becomes Go To Source For Drug War Info, 'Pro' Journalists Upset
from the for-all-sides... dept
A few years back, we had noted that Mexican gangs were actually some of the earlier adopters of YouTube, using it as a communications platform, posting videos of the different crimes they had committed and communicating with and taunting other gangs. So, perhaps it's no surprise that a recently launched blog, run by an anonymous blogger has now become the go-to source for people on all sides of Mexico's raging drug war. Apparently both gangs and law enforcement are regularly sending the blog exclusive information, photos and videos, hoping to get them more widespread attention among others in the drug war. The anonymous site owner is careful to stay "neutral" in posting all of this stuff, though that has some attacking him for not abiding by his journalistic "social responsibility." While I recognize where that worry comes from, I actually think that's what makes this story so interesting. By creating a sort of neutral "middle ground" platform, a lot more information is making it out to everyone involved. If anything, it sounds like this "professional journalist" is just jealous:"Media outlets have social responsibilities and have to serve the public," said Carlos Lauria, of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "This is being produced by someone who is not doing it from a journalistic perspective. He is doing it without any ethical considerations."Ethical considerations like repeating bogus statements from officials rather than getting to the actual meat of a story? Ethical considerations like reprinting press releases without fact checking? What "journalistic perspective" does Lauria think is being ignored here, and why is there some mythical standard that this blogger needs to live up to?
Filed Under: blogs, drug wars, journalism, mexico
