Mexico
According to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI), Mexico’s current ranking out of 180 countries is 143. Since 2016, the country’s position has moved up by 6 spots, but still remains among the last 40.
WPFI is an annual ranking of 180 countries according to their level of journalistic freedom. It is created by the non-governmental and non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). WPFI has been published since 2002.
Mexico is notorious for its poor journalistic safety. Declared “the world’s deadliest country for the media” by RSF, it is the leader in journalistic murders both in 2020 and 2019 with eight and ten victims respectively. Reporters are highly endangered, especially when investigating certain political stories. Because of scheming between officials and mafia members, journalists are threatened, abducted, banished abroad or killed.
Almost all television channels in Mexico are owned by two media groups — Televisa and TV Azteca, which makes the country’s media ownership extremely concentrated. Moreover, some of the high-profile managers, involved in the media corporations were or currently are part of the Mexican legislation.
Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) is a tool that creates a publicly available database of relevant mass media outlets’ owners. MOM aims to make media ownership more transparent. The tool was proposed and launched by RSF.
Mexican government’s advertising budget is crucial for most media outlets’ revenues. More than 1000 companies fight for Mexico’s advertising funds. However, according to MOM, 17 percent was given solely to Televisa, 9.8 percent — to TV Azteca. The media companies on third and fourth place received 2.7 percent, which speaks volumes on the corrupt relationship between media magnates and the Mexican government.
According to MOM, finding reliable audience data was impossible during their research in Mexico. Market research companies analyze only selected media companies. On top of that, they are not bound to publicly disclose information about their structure. To date, Mexico is the only country in the global MOM project, where such data is unavailable.
Freedom in the World (FITW) is an annual survey that measures civil liberty and political rights in 195 countries and 15 territories by providing rating and descriptive texts. It is created by the non-governmental organization Freedom House.
According to FITW 2020, Mexico is ranked 62 out of 100 countries. The country’s status is “partially free”, with 27 out of 40 political rights and 35 out of 60 civil liberties available. Mexico’s position has slightly improved from 2019’s 63 place.
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Evgeniya Trifonova is studying Journalism & Mass Communications and Music, Film & Theatre in AUBG. She is passionate about art, media and freedom of speech.
