Government of Mexico Controls News Media

The government of Mexico has spent an exorbitant amount of funds on advertising in the country’s newspapers, radio stations and television outlets. President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration has poured billions of dollars annually into advertising and monitoring the news media of Mexico. Media owners, executives and journalists have called this situation a presidential branding juggernaut, where the president and the government are able to single-handedly control the front pages of media and prevent the release of any negative comments regarding the government.

Mr. Pena Nieto has formerly stated that he would regulate government publicity during his term; however, this promise fell flat as he has spent more money on advertising than any other president in history. In the past five years, he has invested nearly $2 billion, a number twice the number Mexican lawmakers allotted to media budget in 2016.

However, the funds poured into controlling and monitoring news media span beyond just federal money. Party leaders collect millions of dollars in state money and channel them towards advertising in their preferred news outlets. What’s even more outrageous is that some government press secretaries have publicly asked for media outlets to cover positive news exclusively as a leverage for signing the advertising contract.

The dictatorship of news media by the Mexican government has led to an immense distortion of news reports and corrupted the nature of media. Stories are often modified and softened to cater to the governmental demand for positive coverage, and in some cases removed completely from being reported. Censoring is an accepted reality, admitted by two-thirds of Mexican journalists themselves.

The government’s power extends beyond advertising and into the realm of bribery. According to officials, the former governor of Chihuahua spent over $50 million on publicity despite the debts the state was entangled in. Investigators also found receipts for bribes to journalists, whose identities were often listed as government contractors to mask its nature of bribery. The news media’s purpose has been distorted from reporting the truth and uncovering the unknown, but one of political manipulation to support the agenda of the government.

While free press is considered central and fundamental in a democracy, the absence of it seems to be a norm in Mexico. In fact, many news outlets and media companies have become so used to relying on the governmental monetary support that they would have a hard time maintaining its business without the government. Therefore, in this system of media and power, in order to survive and keep their jobs, journalists are forced to write certain stories and drop the others.

According to a study conducted at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City and the University of Miami, almost seventy percent of the journalists in Mexico have censored themselves. The reason behind these decisions is more than just about economic benefits and for the companies they work in to stay in the market, but also about their personal survival and security.

This is, however, more than just a political problem. The Mexican government has been cutting budgets in many other fields including health, education and social services, while the expenses in advertising continue to increase. The link between media outlets and the government expands to other businesses as well, mapping out an extensive web of governmental control for power and suppression of free press.

Those journalists who have had the courage and will to report stories that are unwanted by the government have lost their jobs, their lives threatened. To kill a journalist is to kill another window into investigations into truth and light. In Mexico, this is not hard and in fact, not uncommon at all.

Featured Image via Wikimedia