Caller to Reporter: "I'm Going To Kill You"

Screen Shot from Reportero-Reporter Segrio Hara relating phone call he got

Serious journalists in Mexico can have short careers.  Bernardo Ruiz's film Reportero,  first showed here last December at the Anchorage International Film Festival.  It's gripping film documenting reporters risking their lives to cover the narco wars, and many losing their lives.


You Can Make A Difference

I asked Ruiz after his keynote address at the Alaska Press Club conference Saturday what viewers could do to help support reporters trying to uncover the drug dealers and the government workers who support them.  Go ahead and start the video.  You don't have to watch it all (it's short).  You can just listen as you read below.

Screen shot from Reportero Trailer

My question was how viewers could support journalists like these.  He offered a couple of organizations that protect journalists around the world that we can support:

Committee to Protect Journalists - "CPJ promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. CPJ takes action wherever journalists are censored, attacked, imprisoned, or killed for their work. Our advocacy helps to ensure the free flow of news and commentary."

Article 19 - This one just got graphic threats in the Mexican office which you can see at the link.

Reporters Without Borders -They too help endangered reporters.  They also have a World Press Freedom Index. 

Reportero is a very compelling movie.  If you watched the Sopranos or the the Wire, well this is the real deal.  Not only does he tell the reporting story, you get to know the reporters as well.

You can order copies from the ReporteroProject website or Quietpictures.com. 



This is happening in Mexico, in large part because of the demand for drugs in the US and the availability of guns - all kinds of guns - just over the border from Mexico in the US.

Screenshot from Reportero trailer

I wonder how many people who are so violently opposed to any law to expand background checks have as much respect for the First Amendment as they claim to have for the Second Amendment.  Clearly many in Mexico feel their right to own guns also gives them the right to prevent others from talking about what they do with those guns.