After writing a feature on Anabel Hernandez’s reporting on corruption and drug cartels in Mexico — and the role that Europe and the US plays in the thousands of murders in Latin America that is driving migration and displacement — it was an honor to hear Hernandez speak in person at this year’s Global Media Forum. In creating a short profile of her work and reporting out the unique threats that journalists in Mexico face (it is, in 2019, the most dangerous country not at war for journalists), I learned what true courage is. Here’s an excerpt from her speech accepting the award; you can read it in its entirety at the DW Freedom page, where I’m a contributing editor.
“The killings of journalists are increasing all over the world. Journalists live in the most violent time in recent history, thus affecting society’s human right to be timely and truthfully informed. Each journalist killed means repercussions on hundreds of people who remain silent in the face of violence.
But why are they killing us? Why are they threatening us? Why are they imprisoning us? Why do they want to silence us?
The world is living in dark times in all respects, in all spheres. Where we look, everything is confusing, there is no clarity, there is no transparency, there is no accountability. Frontiers are becoming blurred, economic models no longer really differ from one another. The distances between left, center and right are shrinking.
In so many countries of the world, the same thing seems to be happening, putting democracy at great risk and the freedoms that to achieve have cost us so many sacrifices.”