MEXICO CITY: Masked men claiming to represent Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel have taken the unusual step of circulating a video threatening to kill a national television news anchor for what they viewed as unfair coverage.
The video circulated Monday showed masked and heavily armed men surrounding a man seated at a small desk who delivered a message he said was from Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel. It was unclear if the person reading the message was Oseguera himself.
The message complained that Milenio Television, a national cable news channel associated with a major newspaper chain, was favoring so-called self-defense groups that are battling the Jalisco cartel in Michoacan state.
He singled out Mileno anchor Azucena Uresti, threatening to kill her and make her eat her words.
The man alleged that the vigilante groups were actually drug traffickers, the only organizations that could afford the armament those forces had at their disposal.
The message mentioned Hipolito Mora, who organized a self-defense force in Michoacan nearly a decade earlier, but who more recently has distanced himself from such groups, as well as Los Viagras, a criminal group operating in the state.
The Jalisco cartel representative said in the message that he did not want to inhibit freedom of expression, but just wanted the coverage to be even.
Milenio Television said in a statement late Monday that Uresti had its total support, as did other journalists. It demanded a rapid investigation that guaranteed Uresti’s safety and denied that it had ever favored any group in it coverage.
Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez Cuevas said via Twitter that the Mexican government “will take the necessary measures to protect threatened journalists and news outlets.”
Threats against journalists are not empty talk in Mexico. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers Mexico the deadliest country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists.
The Jalisco cartel has also shown itself to have nearly unlimited reach within Mexico. In June 2020, cartel gunmen carried out a brazen attack in Mexico City that left the police chief seriously wounded and killed three others.
Mexican cartel threatens news anchor, demands equal coverage
https://arab.news/v5nf2
Mexican cartel threatens news anchor, demands equal coverage
- The video showed masked and heavily armed men complaining that Milenio Television was favoring so-called self-defense groups that are battling the Jalisco cartel
Saudi Media Forum urges ethical coverage as crises redefine Arab journalism
- Raw news without context can mislead audiences and distort credibility, experts say
RIYADH: Arab media was born in crisis and shaped by conflict rather than stability, Malik Al-Rougi, general manager of Thaqafeyah Channel, said during the Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Al-Rougi was speaking during a panel titled “Media and Crises: The Battle for Awareness and the Challenges of Responsible Coverage,” which examined how news organizations across the region navigated credibility and professional standards amid fast-moving regional developments.
“Today, when you build a media organization and invest in it for many years, a single crisis can destroy it,” he said.
Referring to recent events, Al-Rougi said that he had witnessed news channels whose credibility “collapsed overnight.”
“In journalistic and political terms, this is not a process of news production. It is a process of propaganda production,” he said. “The damage caused by such a post … is enormous for an institution in which millions, perhaps billions, have been invested.”
When a media outlet shifts from professionalism and credibility toward “propaganda,” he added, it moves away from its core role.
“A crisis can work for you or against you,” Al-Rougi added. “When, in the heart of a crisis, you demonstrate high credibility and composure, you move light-years ahead. When you fail to adhere to ethical standards, you lose light-years as well.”
Abdullah Al-Assaf, professor of political media studies at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, said that in many crises across the Arab world, agendas and directives had often prevailed over professionalism.
“Credibility was buried,” he added.
Hasan Al-Mustafa, writer and researcher at Al-Arabiya channel, said that raw information could be subject to multiple interpretations if not placed within a proper political, security, historical or geographical context.
He added that such an approach was urgently needed during periods of political and security volatility in the Middle East.
When, in the heart of a crisis, you demonstrate high credibility and composure, you move light-years ahead. When you fail to adhere to ethical standards, you lose light-years as well.
Malik Al-Rougi Thaqafeyah, Channel general manager
“This objectivity, or this reliability, is a great responsibility,” Al-Mustafa said. “It is reflected not only in its impact on the audience, but also on the credibility of the content creator.”
Al-Mustafa warned against populism and haste in coverage, saying that they risked deepening crises rather than providing informed public perspectives.
He also said that competition with social media influencers had pushed some traditional outlets to imitate influencer-driven models instead of strengthening their own professional standards.
“Our media has been crisis-driven for decades,” he said, describing much of the region’s coverage as reactive rather than proactive.
During a separate panel titled “The Official Voice in the Digital Age: Strategies of Influence,” speakers discussed how rapid technological and social changes were reshaping the role of institutional spokespersons.
Abdulrahman Alhusain, official spokesperson of the Saudi Ministry of Commerce, said that the role was no longer limited to delivering statements or reacting to events.
“Today, the spokesperson must be the director of the scene — the director of the media narrative,” he said.
Audiences, he added, no longer accept isolated pieces of information unless they were presented within a clear narrative and structure.
“In the past, a spokesperson was expected to deliver formal presentations. Today, what is required is dialogue. The role may once required defense, but now it must involve discussion, the exchange of views, and open, candid conversation aimed at development — regardless of how harsh the criticism may be.”
He said that spokespersons must also be guided by data, digital indicators and artificial intelligence to understand public opinion before speaking.
“You must choose the right timing, the right method and the right vocabulary. You must anticipate a crisis before it happens. That is your role.”
Abdullah Aloraij, general manager of media at the Riyadh Region Municipality, said that the most important skill for a spokesperson today was the ability to analyze and monitor public discourse.
“The challenge is not in transferring words, but in transferring understanding and impact in the right way,” he said.
