{"id":68799,"date":"2016-01-18T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=68799"},"modified":"2016-01-12T13:44:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:44:07","slug":"why-sean-penns-el-chapo-meeting-was-an-epic-insult-to-imperiled-mexican-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/01\/why-sean-penns-el-chapo-meeting-was-an-epic-insult-to-imperiled-mexican-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Sean Penn\u2019s El Chapo Meeting Was an \u2018Epic Insult\u2019 to Imperiled Mexican Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

11 Jan 2015 – <\/em>As the Mexico City bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News for almost two decades, Alfredo Corchado has been on the front lines of the journalistic struggle to document the brutal toll of drug violence across Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Sean Penn and then-fugitive Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzma\u0301n are pictured on Oct. 2, in a photo taken for verification purposes. After a long dinner and conversation, Chapo granted the actor\u2019s request for an interview that was published in Rolling Stone magazine. (Courtesy of Rolling Stone)<\/p><\/div>\n

That struggle is among the world\u2019s deadliest, with more than 60 Mexican journalists killed or having disappeared over the past decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMexico is one of the world\u2019s most dangerous countries for journalists,\u201d according to Reporters Without Borders<\/a>. \u201cThey are threatened and murdered by organized crime or corrupt officials with impunity. The resulting climate of fear leads to self-censorship and undermines freedom of information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stories about government corruption, Mexico\u2019s middle-class exodus and drug violence have placed Corchado on the receiving end of numerous death threats that have forced him to flee the country for months at a time.\u00a0Like many of his courageous Mexican contemporaries, he has attempted to forge ahead, even as entire regions of the embattled nation \u2014 Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Durango \u2014 have had their independent media silenced by the specter of violence.<\/p>\n

In these places, Corchado notes, nobody prints anything without cartel approval, including \u2014 it would seem \u2014 Sean Penn.<\/p>\n

For Corchado and many of his colleagues, therein lies the problem with the American actor\u2019s controversial first-person account of meeting<\/a> with the notorious drug lord Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n. Corchado said the story \u2014 published Saturday [9 Jan] by Rolling Stone and submitted for Guzm\u00e1n\u2019s approval before it was made public \u2014 is evidence of the inherent conflict between journalism and entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re not really challenging the person and have agreed to submit the story for approval, it sounds more like a Hollywood entertainment,\u201d Corchado, who was recently named the\u00a0borderlands director of Arizona State\u2019s Walter Cronkite\u2019s School of Journalism, told The Washington Post. \u201cIt\u2019s not on par with the sacrifice of many of my colleagues in Mexico and throughout the world who have lost their lives fighting censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he serving the public or is he aggrandizing himself?\u201d he added, referring to Penn.<\/p>\n

\n

#Chapo<\/a> and #Hollywood<\/a>, #SeanPenn<\/a>? Of course, it makes sense. Just don't call it #journalism<\/a>…<\/p>\n

— Alfredo Corchado (@ajcorchado) January 10, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n