WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

MEXICO
Commentary - El Universal
The availability of public information on Mexican media is a
constant problem. There are no official reports or private
companies that report regularly on the media, only isolated
efforts by some institutions and academics. With this in mind,
we will elaborate on the crisis that hit the Mexican media hard
in 2002, with resounding effects today.
The causes of this crisis lie in the contraction of the domestic
market. This contraction was due to the recession in the US;
high dependence on a single customer, the government; and
the government’s tendency to favour the electronic media.
The press has often seemed more interested in spreading
government propaganda than discharging its social
responsibility to readers. After the political upheaval in 2000,
when Vicente Fox Quesada rose to power, it became obvious
that many in the media were going to face life-or-death
upheavals.
This first happened with one of the oldest newspapers in the
country, Excélsior, when the Director was thrown out for trying
to sell the paper behind the back of the cooperative that owned
it. Since then, an internal dispute has ensued between two
groups fighting the legal representatives of the Board of
Directors. Recently, a notorious former police chief offered
US$150 million of uncertain origin to take over Excélsior.
Later, rival groups fought for control of the cooperative running
the newspaper El Día. The struggle left the newspaper, once
called “Spokesman for the People” by its founder, in a shambles.
Novedades stopped its presses for the last time on 31st December
2002, along with its English language paper, The News. Its assets
were sold by its owner.
Neck high in problems, the owners of El Heraldo sold part of
their shares to Telmex, owned by the entrepreneur Carlos Slim.
Unomásuno, once a groundbreaking independent newspaper,
was turned into a pamphlet for the PRI party when it was in
power. After the election turmoil, which ended in defeat for
the PRI, the paper closed and its owner, a former PRI party
official, sold it to a businessman who is now facing legal action
for abusing worker’s rights, and a scandal over the ambiguous
source of his fortune.
México Hoy closed its doors and its equipment and facilities were
sold to property developers in Cancun.
These cases are but examples of the readjustment currently in
progress in the Mexico City newspaper industry. The change
of government and the old relationship between the media and
the state has had the most profound consequences for Mexico
City.
Mexico City, with 30 newspapers, must have one of the highest
numbers of newspapers of any city in the world. This is where
the crisis has hit hardest. Without government advertising,
without an entrepreneurial drive and without readers (the
highest print run by a Mexico City newspaper is lower than
200,000), the city papers face a tough future. This has led to job
losses. Since early 2002 scores of journalists have been fired from
newspapers and magazines (no precise number is available).
Journalists have also been subject to strong pressure from the
government. That resulted in subpoenas to reporters from El
Universal and La Jornada, to reveal their sources of information
on corruption among politicians and officials.
Another problem for journalism is that Mexico has a loophole
in its legal framework limiting the free exercise of journalism
and the service it provides society. Reforms are needed to move
defamation proceedings from criminal courts to civil courts.
This is especially true when the plaintiff is a public official, and
is already common practice in other parts of the world, including
several nations in Latin America.
In June 2002 the Federal Act on Transparency and Public Access
to Government Information was passed. The general objective
of this law is to allow anyone access to information possessed
by the government.
Also in 2002, the National Press Award Council was formed to
choose and give the National Press Award, absolutely
independently from the government. The Council is formed
by journalists, civil associations and universities.
POPULATION
Population by age and sex
All individuals Male Female Households
000 % 000 % 000 % 000
0-15 24,219 23 11,930 23 12,289 23 22,269
16-24 13,559 13 6,679 13 6,880 13
25-34 23,082 22 11,370 22 11,712 22
35-44 23,184 22 11,419 22 11,765 22
45-54 9,523 9 4,691 9 4,832 9
55-64 9,833 10 4,843 10 4,990 10
Total 103,400 100 50,932 100 52,468 100
Source: INEGI, CIA
Age structure of readership
% of % daily reach
Age readership within age group
6-15 8.0 4.3
16-24 23.5 12.6
25-34 27.0 16.4
35-44 20.6 17.5
45-54 12.2 16.9
55-64 7.5 18.2
65+ 1.2 21.7
Source: Ipsos Bimsa
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003 191