Investigative Journalism in a Dangerous Country
September 13, 6:30 p.m.
Ryerson University, George Vari Computing and Engineering Centre
ENG 103, 245 Church St. – Toronto
Free admission
Mexico’s war on drugs has now lasted more than a decade. During that time corporate and political corruption has worsened and and scores of journalists have been killed with almost complete impunity. Adela Navarro Bello, Director of Tijuana’s ZETA Weekly, has worked at the front lines of this conflict, receiving death threats and losing colleagues and friends to the violence. She will discuss the hostile climate for free expression in Mexico and the government’s belated response to the crisis of corruption, impunity and violence.
Adela Navarro Bello is the Director General of the ZETA Weekly in Tijuana, Baja California, a publication renowned for its exposés of institutional corruption, organized crime and drug trafficking. Several ZETA editors and journalists have been murdered and Navarro has been the subject of multiple death threats during her 27-year career. She received the 2007 International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the 2011 International Women’s Media Foundation “Courage in Journalism” award. In 2012 Newsweek magazine chose her as one of the world’s 150 most fearless women and Foreign Policy named her among its Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Forbes chose her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Mexico.