Reporters Without Borders and the Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET), a Mexico City-based press freedom organisation, are today releasing the results of a joint fact-finding visit to the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, that was prompted by the 13 November murder of Armando Rodríguez Carreón of the El Diario newspaper and a wave of violence that has forced journalists to flee into exile.

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 Courageous journalists risk all for readers
By LISE OLSEN Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 22, 2008, 9:26AM

Ciudad Juarez has long been known for gutsy and seasoned newspaper reporters who never shrank from a grisly crime scene.

I sat with a group of them at a reception for investigative journalists in Ciudad Juarez years ago when one editor's portable police radio crackled: A man had been shot dead in his plate of sushi at a luxury restaurant in an apparent organized crime hit.

Everyone rushed out.Despite spates of violence, law-abiding residents in Ciudad Juarez until recently experienced a murder rate generally below that of large U.S. cities like Houston, based on official crime and census statistics in both countries.

That changed with this year's murder boom that has claimed an astounding 1,300 victims.

The crime scene — and victim — at the Nov. 13 slaying was appallingly familiar. El Diario's veteran crime reporter, Armando Rodriguez, 11/13was shot dead in a company car in front of his own home as he prepared to drive his daughter to school. To readl the full piece, click here. 

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