A newspaper in the Mexican border city of Juárez has announced that it is shutting down because the unpunished killings of journalists in the country have made it too dangerous to go on.
Oscar Cantu Murguia, the editor of Norte, informed readers of his decision in a farewell letter titled “Adios!” that was published on the paper’s front page and online.
He cited the recent murder of journalist Miroslava Breach in the city of Chihuahua, which like Juárez is in Chihuahua state. Breach was a reporter for the national newspaper La Jornada and had also collaborated with Norte.
Branch was shot eight times in her car. One of her children was in the vehicle at the time but was not hurt. The gunmen left a note saying: “For being a loud-mouth.”
Announcing the decision to close the paper, Cantu wrote: “On this day, esteemed reader, I address you to report that I have made the decision to close this newspaper due to the fact that, among other things, there are neither the guarantees nor the security to exercise critical, counterbalanced journalism.
“In these 27 years ... we fought against the tide, receiving attacks and punishments from individuals and governments for having exposed their bad practices and corrupt acts that only played to the detriment of our city and the people who live in it.
“Everything in life has a beginning and an end, a price to pay,” he went on. “And if this is life, I am not prepared for any __more of my collaborators to pay it, nor with my own person.”
Cantu also mentioned ambiguous financial concerns that he blamed on authorities – “the arrogant refusal to pay debts contracted for the provision of services”.
He vowed to continue “fighting from other trenches, always contributing and being loyal to my ideals and my city”.
A spokesman for Norte told the Guardian that the organisation’s news website would continue to operate.
Juárez, which has a population of 1.3 million people, currently has five local newspapers: El Diario, El Norte, El Mexicano, El PM and Hoy. Norte’s print run was 30,000 copies from Monday to Thursday and 35,000 from Friday to Sunday.
In Mexico, government advertising is a major source of revenue for many news outlets, and media critics say reliance on that often leads to tame coverage and self-censorship.
At least 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives confirmed as related to their work, according the Committee to Protect Journalists. The New York-based media advocacy group says 50 __more were slain during the same period for reasons that remain unclear.
“Mexico is clearly going through a deep, full-blown freedom of expression crisis,” said Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator for the Americas at CPJ. “It’s affecting Mexicans, not only journalists, because the fact that a newspaper closes is depriving people of information that they need in order to take informed decisions.”
The country saw a spate of attacks on journalists in March.
In addition to Breach, who was gunned down as she left home 23 March, two other journalists were killed in Guerrero and Veracruz, both states that are hotspots of drug cartel violence.
Another journalist was shot in Poza Rica, Veracruz on 29 March, leaving him in a critical condition. And an armed attack on a journalist in San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, left his bodyguard dead.