Four kidnapped Mexican journalists remain missing

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the press. More than 30 journalists have been killed or disappeared in the country since President Felipe Calderón was elected in 2006.

Four Mexican journalists are still missing after being kidnapped Monday by alleged members of a drug cartel. Three of the missing journalists are television cameramen, while one is a newspaper reporter. They were were all kidnapped after reportedly photographing a protest at Gómez Palacio prison, in the state of Durango. The protests came on the heels of the arrest of Margarita Rojas, the head of the prison, who is accused of allowing armed prisoners to leave the prison and carry out a mass killing a week earlier.

The newspaper Milenio reported that one of the kidnapped cameramen called his station’s newsroom on Monday and said his captors wanted the station to broadcast three videos, which had already been posted on a blog. The station aired the three videos (which ran about 15 minutes long, in total) and showed local police officers and others, apparently held captive by the unnamed gang, condemning links between the police and the Zetas, one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels.

CPJ’s Senior Program Coordinator for the Americas, Carlos Lauria, weighs in on the danger Mexican journalists face, while New York Times correspondent Elisabeth Malkin joins us from Mexico City with the latest news about the four missing journalists.