Finding reporteros in Cuernavaca

After several calls and emails to various local newspapers, I finally met up with some Cuernavaca journalists this week. I owe a huge part of this feat to Hector, the assistant director of the Spanish department at my school, who arranged for me to meet with a photographer for the Diario de Morelos who just so happens to be his wife’s cousin.

It was so nice of Angel Arenas to take time out of his workday to talk to me. Even though he wasn’t as familiar with the challenges of reporting, we had a great conversation about journalism in Mexico in general. I had a feeling that newspapers carried less weight than TV broadcasts here, but Sr. Arenas gave me an even bleaker outlook. Often, he said, newspapers don’t drive action or even stir awareness because hardly anybody pays attention to them. Subscriptions, for example, are rare. People are more likely to buy the paper off newsstands if they have some reason to follow a story. It doesn’t help that big stories on corruption or other evils (whether in a paper or elsewhere) are often kept quiet by editors who’ve either been directly threatened by the government or who simply know what would happen if they went to press with them.

Occasionally, Sr. Arenas said, papers can keep interest in a big issue alive (a current example is a dispute concerning water cleanliness in 13 pueblos around the state). Other times, he said, you could write the most scathing report on, say, corrupt police officers and get no response. That kind of story might be allowed because officials would know that it wouldn’t cause any uproar, or if it did, they have far too much power to worry about any repercussions.

I was also dismayed to hear that journalists start out earning about the same as a public school teacher – $100 pesos/day, or about $10 US. Later, I heard from my teachers that it isn’t nearly so bad because journalists often get supplemented by money under the table from politicians they’ve written favorably about – something like $6,000 pesos every three weeks or so. I have no idea whether this is true or not. I did tactfully ask a couple of local journalists about this. They kind of nodded and said something like, ‘Yeah, that probably happens.” But I doubt anyone would tell me that they accept gifts like that.

After chatting with Sr. Arenas, he took me to the Congress building, aka reporter central. He introduced me to a half dozen reporters, including Sr. Luis Garcitapia from La Jornada, a national paper with a Morelos edition. I’m hoping to write some stories for at least one of these local papers, but I can already see that getting assignments could be difficult since many events occur in the morning when I have classes.

If that doesn’t work out, at least I was lucky enough to find Sr. Garcitapia. He offered to let me tag along to some of his interviews to observe differences in interview styles, etc., and I took him up on that right away. Two days later, I met him at the Congress building where reporters were waiting for a sports official to exit a closed meeting. A couple of them told me they’re expected to produce 3-4 short stories a day, which isn’t necessarily that different from US publications. But their attitude and the overall atmosphere was very different from what I’m used to. I didn’t see the sense of urgency I’ve experienced in newsrooms where I’ve worked even though there appears to be the same amount of work and deadline pressure. And although the reporters I met are technically competitors, they all just hang out with each other at Congress and seem to be genuine friends. Apparently, competition plays more into the advertising end.

Sr. Garcitapia interviewed some diplomats for his stories and attended a press conference with two PRD party representatives who were urging the state governor to meet with these 13 towns that were having water problems. Later that afternoon, we went to a hotel restaurant where 7 state PRD members (Sr. Garcitapia primarily covers this political party) were meeting with a visiting federal PRD delegate, David Sanchez Camacho. Camacho is behind a movement to extend marriage rights to gay couples in Mexico, which I found fascinating. I asked him how a country with such a strong Catholic identity (abortions still aren’t legal) would tolerate gay marriage rights. He seems to think things are growing liberal enough to allow this kind of change. (IE: he says the word “Catholic” is used as an identity but doesn’t necessarily mean that many people devoutly follow the religion.) I’m not so sure he’s right yet, but it was interesting to hear him. I also met several members of the local PRD, including one who oversees immigration programs. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet up with him again in the coming week.

Here, a Diario de Morelos reporter interviews visiting federal PRD delegate David Sanchez Camacho.