Deadly lede: Framing and attacks on the Mexican press

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the content of stories and social media posts of Mexican journalists from January 2017 to July 2018. This content was then evaluated in search of trends and consistencies in coverage, ultimately providing insight on themes and topics covered by the country’s journalists prior to their assassination. The media content used in this study was retrieved from national and local Mexican publications, as well as social media, and is from both murdered and living journalists. The findings suggest that the publication of content from independent publications that criticized the government and/or certain political groups was followed by the death of a journalist, often on the same day as the story’s publication. The findings also indicated that publications changed their writing style following the death of a colleague. These findings highlight the dire situation Mexican journalism faces in the current political and socioeconomic environment and the implications for advertising revenues, media ownership, and content framing.