It seems a stretch to connect the death of a regional journalist in Mexico to the (de)evolution of a strong democratic nation. But a careful read of the new book, 'In The Mouth Of The Wolf' reveals a dark how-to guide for corrupt politicians and crime bosses bent on whittling democracy down to a façade.
The book, by U.S. journalist and author Katherine Corcoran, is a detailed account of the murder of reporter Regina Martinez in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. The death of the longtime local journalist, who focused on human rights and political misdeeds, was at first chalked up to a domestic dispute. Corcoran, a veteran scribe with tenures at the Associated Press and the San Jose Mercury News in California, exposes a murkier truth: In a country where rule of law is obscured by the rule of the lawless, democratic institutions like a free press are sitting ducks.
Can’t happen here, right? Well, spy this list on Wikipedia, which starts way back in 1837. Among the dozens murdered since then, the on-the-job deaths of two – Ruben Salazar and Don Bolles – inspired me to become a journalist. Then, in 2007, Chauncey Bailey of the Oakland Post community paper was shot and killed as he walked to work. He’d been investigating a suspected organized crime ring operating out of a religious sect’s bakery. Through the Society of Professional Journalists, I helped raise money to start a team of San Francisco Bay Area journalists who went on to investigate the murder and complete Bailey’s work.
And that’s the difference, for now, in the consequences for perpetrators who attack journalists in the United States and most other nations, especially Mexico, considered one of the most dangerous workplaces for reporters. In far too many cases, there are no consequences.
But, really, how close are we to living in a society where journalists are routinely killed for attempting to bring truth to power?
This quote, from a New York Times review of Corcoran’s book, says a lot:
“What follows is a murder mystery but also, more importantly, a portrait of a nation where no one knows what to believe, or whom to trust.” – Author Mark Bowden.
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For those in and near Washington, D.C.: On October 19th, at 6pm, we’ll gather at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, 13th floor, for a conversation between Corcoran and Mexican American journalist Alfredo Corchado, author of 'Homelands' and 'Midnight In Mexico,' his own harrowing encounter with corruption and threats from organized crime. Please text us (sign up hereto join our list) or tell us on www.pbs.org/publiceditor or by email to djmacy@pbs.org that you’ll join us.
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There’s a cool T-shirt that has become popular merch at U.S. journalism conferences these days. It reads: “First they came for the journalists. We don’t know what happened after that.” It’s a bit of gallows humor for a trade that’s lost tens of thousands of jobs to woeful management, resistance to change, and the Internet’s vacuuming up of ad revenue. But in places like Mexico, where politicians insist that there is democracy, the meaning of the quote on the T-shirt is deadly serious. Martinez is one of dozens of Mexican journalists who have been murdered in the last decade for doing their jobs. A majority of the crimes remain unresolved.
Mexico, like other countries where the population seems trapped in the intersection of organized crime and political corruption, is a dangerous place to conduct the kind of accountability journalism that U.S. audiences have come to trust from sources like "Frontline" and the "PBS NewsHour."
Corcoran’s account is a whodunit with a tangle of leads, clues, and rumors leading in every direction except toward the official story.
“In The Mouth Of The Wolf” is also a scary blueprint for how, if we’re not vigilant, our own free press might one day be bludgeoned by more than the systemic distrust and win-at-all-cost politics that threaten us today.