Mexico paper won't cover violence after attack

(AP) MEXICO CITY - The El Manana newspaper in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo says it will stop covering violent criminal disputes after suffering a second grenade attack against its offices in two months.

Other northern Mexican newspapers have quietly adopted similar policies of not covering drug cartel violence to protect their staffs against threats and violent attacks including kidnappings and murders carried out by gangs that either don't want their activities to appear in print, or are angered by coverage of their rivals.

But El Manana's announcement Tuesday was unusual because it was public. The paper did not say who it thought was behind the attack earlier in the day, nor give a possible motive.

"We ask for the public's comprehension and will refrain, for as long as needed, from publishing any information related to the violent disputes our city and other regions of the country are suffering," the paper said in an editorial. Nuevo Laredo, like much of Tamaulipas state, has been the scene of bloody battles between the Zetas drug gang and the Gulf cartel, supported by allies in the Sinaloa cartel.

"The company's editorial and administrative board has been forced to make this regrettable decision by circumstances we are all familiar with, and by the lack of adequate conditions for freely exercising professional journalism", according to the El Manana statement.

"We will only address the (violent crime) issue through the opinions of professional analysts who study the phenomenon in an intelligent and responsible way."

Also Tuesday, gunmen threw grenades and opened fire on two buildings belonging to the El Norte newspaper in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. No injuries were reported in those attacks, and that newspaper has not announced any change in coverage.

Since 2000, 81 journalists have been killed and 16 kidnapped in the drug war, the Mexican government's human rights commission says. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says 48 journalists have been murdered or disappeared since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in December 2006.

Some of the Mexican papers that have made similar decisions not to cover drug violence continue to print crime sections, but fill them with stories about traffic accidents. Others have decided to protect themselves by covering homicides only by printing police statements, without investigating. Still others continue to file stories, but try to avoid mentioning the name of any specific gang or cartel.

[takacrat]

To stop this, it will put some of our own Congressman and Senators in hot water!

[nehicks]

They have let the cartels win, again. If we can go into Iraq due to their government causing terrific civil rights abuses, WHY doesn't the U.S. go into Mexico and take over their ineffectual government and get rid of the cartels?

[ttbird55]

Another reason why we should be guarding the US border tighter. This is coming to America but our Politicians would rather have "future" voters...God Bless America

[fastdraw2]

The Mexico drug cartels have really got the whole country beaten into the ground don't they. I would like to feel sorry for the Mexican people but I recall an old axiom: People will get away with exactly what you let them get away with.

So long as Mexico doesn't take the steps necessary to rid themselves of this plague of savages and barbarians they will continue to cow to them like the cowards they are.

[pbaird2]

This is blatant terrorism and should be treated by the nations of the UN as such. Mexico cannot fight this war alone and must have the support of free people everywhere. If this were going on in the U.S. we would be sending our diplomats across the globe to recruit assistance. To allow this brazen disregard for human life and the rule of law to continue in Mexico will eventually spread like a wildfire through the U.S and Canada. Ironically, it is not even the Mexican people who benefit from the drug traffic but the South Americans and the Russians.

[Martha12345]

But the Media is always so brave and heroic. Where has all of that bravery gone ? Time for a back bone, El Manana. Stay and fight for your country, you cowards !