A Liu Scholar-led Initiative based at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC

OCTOBER 2011

From Reporter to Refugee:

The Chilling State of Journalism in Mexico

 Friday, October 21, 2011 — 4:30pm – 6:00pm

Liu Institute for Global Issues, Case Room

 

The Liu Research Group on Gender and Sexuality in Latin America, in partnership with UBC and SFU Latin American Studies programs welcome you to a book launch and discussion featuring:

 

KARLA LOTTINI, Author, Cultural Journalist, Cultural Promoter

Karla is a Mexican Journalist currently residing in Canada on an unresolved refugee claim. That claim is based on death threats she received while preparing The Talent of Charlatans, an exposé on corruption within the cultural agencies of the Mexican Government, for publication. As a result of those threats, Karla left the country, and decided have the book published in English as well as Spanish.

ALEXANDER DAWSON, Associate Professor of History & Director, Latin American Studies Program, Simon Fraser University

MANUELA VALLE (MODERATOR), PhD Candidate, Women’s and Gender Studies, UBC

 

This event will combine a discussion of the claims Lottini makes in her book with a larger discussion of the perils of journalism in contemporary Mexico. This country has for some time been one of the most dangerous places in the world to work as a journalist, as for more than two decades journalists have been targeted for murder when reporting on various criminal activities. At this point there is no effective journalism taking place in large regions of the country, resulting in a situation in which our understandings of various critical phenomena – such as the drug trade and the government’s response – are largely based on official reports, rumour and speculation. What is most disturbing about this issue is that, if Lottini’s claims are borne out, the threats to journalists in Mexico are spreading beyond the drug war and into a much larger arena. This portends a potentially chilling effect for all reporting in Mexico.

For more information visit the UBC LAS Website. Download the poster here.

THIS EVENT IS KINDLY SPONSORED BY THE LIU INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL ISSUES.