Blog del Narco
Blog del Narco is a blog that documents events and people of the Mexican Drug War. MSNBC said that Blog del Narco is "Mexico's go-to Web site on information on the country's drug war."[1]
The author spends four hours per day working on the website. To deal with the increased workload, he asked a friend to help him.[2] In Mexico many traditional journalistic outlets received harassment due to stories they publish, so anonymous blogs like Blog del Narco have taken the role of reporting on events related to the drug war.[3] The author, an anonymous computer security student in his 20s from northern Mexico,[2] uses computer security techniques to obscure his identity.[4] His anonymity had been maintained. When he conducted an interview with the Associated Press, he used a disguised telephone number. Nate Freeman of The Observer said "his facelessness allowed him get away with stories that would endanger known journalists[...]"[5]
History
The author began the website in March 2010 as a hobby.[2] The author said that he created the website because the Government of Mexico is not reporting on the event and is trying to pretend that "nothing is happening."[6] The Huffington Post stated that in a period of less than six months, Blog del Narco "has become Mexico's go-to Internet site" for drug cartel events.[4]
A video posted on Blog del Narco outlined a prison warden's system of letting prisoners free at night so they could commit murders for drug cartels. As a result of the video, the prison warden was arrested.[7]
Content
According to the author, the blog posts all cartel-related media, regardless of the cartel affiliation or content.[2] Some of the videos posted on the website show incidents of murder and torture.[8] Spencer Ackerman of Wired said "Even if you don’t read Spanish (like me), the images on Blog Del Narco tell the gruesome story. Old, wealthy men held hostage and humiliated. Paramilitary cops in ski masks taking dudes into custody. People walking the streets in body armor, automatic weapons out. Then there’s all the dead bodies and shot-up cars."[6] Jo Tuckman of Dawn said that the website's contents are "a catalogue of horror absent even from the national press, which still covers the violence from the relative safety of its headquarters in the capital."[3] Duncan Robinson of the New Statesman said "To say that the blog's coverage is raw is an understatement. It is visceral and undigested. This is news unprocessed, unadulterated and uncensored. Where a news editor would cut away, Blog del Narco's footage lingers. Decapitations are not described, they are pictured. It's unapologetically violent. The blog's raison d'être is simple: to reflect what is happening."[9] The Daily Mail stated "some of the horror it displays makes the 2002 film City of God [sic], charting the drug war on the streets of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, look like a Disney film."[2]
Reception
The Daily Mail said "Blog del Narco has become an internet sensation." By August 2010 hundreds of posts occurred each day.[2] As of August 2010 the blog had over 7,300 followers on Facebook and Twitter. Among the followers were Mexican media organizations, the Secretariat of National Defense, CNN, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.[2] As of September 2010 the blog had three million unique monthly views.[6] By 2011 it became one of the most visited websites in Mexico.[8] Members of police and drug cartel groups actively read the blog.[5]
The author of the blog said that he is doing a service by publishing sensitive details about the Mexican Drug War that journalist organizations in Mexico are hesitant to publish, for fear of retaliation. The blogger said "For the scanty details that they (mass media) put on television, they get grenades thrown at them and their reporters kidnapped. We publish everything. Imagine what they could do to us." Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists criticized the website, saying that it was "produced by someone who is not doing it from a journalistic perspective. He is doing it without ethical considerations." Many critics said that the blog provides free public relations for the cartel groups.[2]
References
- ^ "Mexican drug gang barricades Monterrey roads ." MSNBC. August 14, 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The REAL City of God: Student risks his life documenting Mexico's drug war in gritty, blood-soaked blog." The Daily Mail. August 14, 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
- ^ a b Tuckman, Jo. "Mexico’s drug war — told in tweets and whispers." Dawn. Tuesday September 28, 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2010.
- ^ a b Rodriguez, Olga R. "Blogger Beats Mexico Drug War News Blackout." Associated Press at the Huffington Post. August 12, 2010. Retrieved on February 16, 2011.
- ^ a b Freeman, Nate. "With Journalists Silenced, Mysterious Blogger Reports on Mexico’s Drug Violence." The Observer. August 16, 2010. Retrieved on February 16, 2011.
- ^ a b c Ackerman, Spencer. "Mexico’s Top Narco-Blogger Comes Forward." Wired. September 14, 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
- ^ Merkelson, Suzanne. "Blog del Narco gets the drug war scoop." Foreign Policy. Friday August 13, 2010. Retrieved on February 16, 2011.
- ^ a b "Man mistaken for drug cartel boss to sue government." Sify News. January 24, 2011. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
- ^ Robinson, Duncan. "Blog del Narco: madness, mutilation and murder in Mexico." The New Statesman. September 21, 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
External links
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- Blog del Narco Template:Es icon
- "Leaking secrets, leaking blood." Boing Boing interview with the author of Blog del Narco
- Burnett, Thane. "Mexico's drug war goes online." Toronto Sun. September 2, 2010.
- "Blogger tells the real story of the war on drugs." France 24. 12 March 2010.
- "La cuadratura del círculo Operativos en el Noroeste." Tribuna Campeche. Thursday February 3, 2011. Template:Es icon
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