Mexico's volatile Sinaloa state passes law restricting reporters' crime coverage

Mexico&#039;s volatile Sinaloa state passes law restricting reporters&#039; crime coverage

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

The Sinaloa state congress passed a law on Thursday that is bound to have journalists covering the violent region fuming. Reporters will henceforth only be allowed to release crime information based on what the government passes along via press releases.

"This is a huge attack on the freedom of expression," Javier Valdez, a co-founder of Sinaloa's Riodoce, considered the region's most independent news source, told the Los Angeles Times. "They want only the official version to get out."

The new law bans journalists from inspecting crime scenes in Sinaloa, along with recording audio, taking photographs, or shooting video at any scenes. The Los Angeles Times notes that the move is likely part of the national push to attract tourists and other "outside investors" back to the country. President Enrique Pena Nieto has attempted to downplay Mexico's volatile drug wars and related violence.

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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

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