Mexican crime reporter Victor Manuel Báez Chino was killed on Thursday morning in Xalapa, the capital of the State of Veracruz. He had been kidnapped on Wednesday evening after he left his office.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) published a report today (23 January) that illustrates how the government of Ecuador is carrying out “a sophisticated strategy of marginalising all voices independent of state power”.

Weekly newspaper Río Doce is a rare success story of independent journalism in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for media professionals. Based in the city of Culiacán, capital of the north western state of Sinaloa, in Mexico, the publication received the 2011 edition of the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, awarded by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, in recognition for the most outstanding reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean. WAN-IFRA interviewed Mr. Ismael Bojorquez Perea, one of the founders and current director of Río Doce.

Der Weltverband der Zeitungen und Nachrichtenmedien (WAN-IFRA) hat nach Abschluss eines 5-tägigen Besuchs in Ecuador eine „zunehmende Polarisierung sowie ein Klima der Feindseligkeit unter den Medienmitarbeitern sowie innerhalb der Gesellschaft insgesamt“ festgestellt.