By IANS,
Mexico City : The Zocalo newspaper group, which publishes dailies in northern Mexico, said that it would stop reporting on organized crime because “there are no guarantees or security for the full exercise of journalism”.
The decision was made by the editorial council at Zocalo, which owns newspapers in the cities of Saltillo, Monclova, Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuna, all located in the northern state of Coahuila.
The end of crime coverage is aimed at ensuring the safety of reporters, the media company said Monday.
Coverage of drug cartels and other organized crime groups is ending because the company has a responsibility to “watch out for the well-being and safety of more then 1,000 employees” and their families, Zocalo said in an editorial.
A criminal organization put up posters around the state last week threatening Zocalo chief Francisco Juaristi.
Zocalo is not the first Mexican media company to cease covering the war on drugs.
In July 2012, El Manana de Nuevo Laredo, a newspaper in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, announced it would no longer “report on violent incidents that are the product of the war between rival criminal groups”.
El Manana’s offices were the target of grenade attacks twice last year.
Several media outlets in northern Mexico have been attacked in the past few weeks and two people, including journalist Jaime Guadalupe Gonzalez, have been killed.