Informally Governing Information

How Criminal Rivalry Leads to Violence against the Press in Mexico

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6283783
AutoresBradley E Holland (0000-0002-8154-4573, The Ohio State University), Bradley Holland (0000-0003-2698-8152, The Ohio State University), Victor Rios (0000-0001-6361-4630, Harvard University), Viridiana Rios
Ano2017
Volume61
Fascículo5
Páginas1095-1119
Data de publicação2017-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022002715600756
OpenAlexW1761345470
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas28
Referências citadas16

A well-functioning press is crucial for sustaining a healthy democracy. While attacks on journalists occur regularly in many developing countries, previous work has largely ignored where and why journalists are attacked. Focusing on violence by criminal organizations (COs) in Mexico, we offer the first systematic, micro-level analysis of the conditions under which journalists are more likely to be violently targeted. Contrary to popular belief, our evidence reveals that the presence of large, profitable COs does not necessarily lead to fatal attacks against the press. Rather, the likelihood of journalists being killed only increases when rival criminal groups inhabit territories. Rivalry inhibits COs’ ability to control information leaks to the press, instead creating incentives for such leaks to be used as weapons to intensify official enforcement operations against rivals. Without the capacity to informally govern press content, rival criminals affected by such press coverage are more likely to target journalists

Criminology · Democracy · Economics · Enforcement · Freedom of the press · Incentive · Law and economics · Law enforcement · Market economy · Organised crime · Political economy · Political science · Rivalry · Sociology · Corruption and Economic Development · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Media Influence and Politics