Mexico drug wars website provokes controversy
By Ronnie Lovler
Blog del Narco, an immensely popular website which up until recently covered Mexico’s drug wars vehemently, provokes controversy on ethics and plagiarism
The young woman with the pseudonym of “Lucy,” who identified herself as the founder and voice of the website that documents drug violence in Mexico, fled the country in early May because she feared for her life.
For three years, the Blog del Narco put out news and information about the drug violence in Mexico that Lucy maintained no one else dared to do, compiling that material into a book, “Dying for the Truth” published in April.
But now some Mexican journalists and colleagues across the border in the U.S. are questioning the ethics of the blog.
Accusations of plagiarism
Journalists from a U.S. web portal, Fronteras, and Mexican journalists who have remained anonymous for what they describe as security reasons, have accused Lucy of plagiarism in a report circulated by the U.S Spanish-language network, Univision. They said Lucy has taken material reported by others and published it as her own, including information that appears in her just-released book.
Lucy denied the accusations on her Twitter feed on 22 May, urging Univision to “investigate the information because it is false.” In another tweet, Lucy urged her accusers to “think twice before judging without (full) knowledge. Better to hold off on your judgment until you know the facts so I invite you to read, “Dying for the Truth.”
Is the Blog del Narco journalism?
Mexican journalists have mixed views about Lucy and the Blog del Narco.
Marcela Turati, is a co-founder of Periodistas de a Pie, a network created to support journalists covering difficult issues like narcotrafficking in Mexico.
“I don’t agree with her statement that what she does is the journalism that is not being done by anyone else in Mexico, since her function was to act as an administrator; put up information from others, post videos that she received,” Turati said in an interview with IMS. “That’s not journalism because that is not doing your own reporting,” said Turati, who won an award this year from Harvard University for conscience and integrity in journalism.
“In Mexico there are many brave journalists who publish their own investigations without hiding their identity,” said Turati, who has herself published a book about Mexico’s drug violence, “Crossfire, Victims Trapped in the Narco-War.”
“That kind of statement can only be made by someone who does not know the world of journalism or is just seeking publicity. Or maybe she (Lucy) is referring to places like Tamaulipas, where the media no longer provides information about drug violence,” Turati said.
Javier Valdez Cárdenas the author of several books on drug violence in Mexico and one of the founders of the weekly RioDoce in Sinoloa, Mexico thinks the Blog del Narco had some influence.
“I think the Blog del Narco contributed by reproducing material that other media could not publish, because they were afraid, corrupted or compromised with the government or criminals,” Valdez said to IMS. “Of course they (Blog del Narco) did that from the comfort of anonymity, although in this country (Mexico) no one is safe, despite confidentiality or not giving out names.
“It undoubtedly made a contribution and in this sense, its shutdown is a loss because another space for information is now closed,” Valdez said.
IMS work in Mexico
Many Mexican news media no longer run stories about drug cartels because there have been so many threats and violence against journalists. Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with 80 journalists murdered since 2000 and 14 others disappeared since 2003.
IMS works with international media support groups on behalf of press freedom and freedom of expression in Mexico within the bounds of journalism safety. In 2008, IMS with Open Society Foundations brought together 13 international media support groups to study the challenges facing journalists in Mexico. The mission concluded that more needs to be done for the security and safety of journalists and efforts are continuing.
Who is Lucy?
In an interview with The Guardian in April, “Lucy” described herself as a young female journalist in northern Mexico. A month later, and shortly after the Blog del Narco book was released, Lucy told the The Guardian she had left Mexico after a colleague telephoned her and just said “run.”
“I’m scared something terrible has happened. ‘Run’ was our codeword for when something was very wrong. We had never used it before,” Lucy told the Guardian.
She told the Guardian that she has published no updates on the website since May 3, although “Lucy does communicate via her Twitter account, @InfoNarco, where she has expressed gratitude for support shown here and also warned followers about “imposters” trying to post on Twitter in a false Blog del Narco account.
