Slide presented at the 2014 IRE Conference held at San Francisco from June 26-29 during the panel 'Organized Crime and Journalism', presented by David Kaplan

1. IRE Conference 2014
Organized crime &
Journalism
Lessons from Northwestern Mexico
Jesús Ibarra
27/06/2014

2. A low point
• Alfredo Jimenez
disappearance in 2005 set the
early decline: The El Imparcial
mess.
!
• Two reporters have been killed
in the last 4 years
!
• A printed media closed its
doors in 2007: Cambio

3. Not just pot and meth
• Organized crime in Mexico & Sonora is not only
related to marijuana, cocaine and crystal

4. South of the border
• US Treasury: 8 drug king pins of ‘El Chapo’ keep the
business going in Sonora.

5. The half of a deadly year
• At least 338 killings dating back to June 22nd
• New profiles for murders and victims

6. New opportunities
• Give voice to the victims
!
• Hear the pulse of the community
!
• Take advantage of local and federal transparency laws
!
• Create your own databases, maps, & GIS
!
• Try to bring people from other fields
!
• Monitor crime in social media.
!
• Create a professional network
!
• Stop giving credit only to political sources

7. What we must understand
• Learn geopolitics, it helps a lot!
!
• Be smart, don’t try to be a hero and get killed in the
process.
!
• Study the history of the drug business in your region.
!
• Keep track of local social networks.
!
• If your boss doesn’t invest in training, do it yourself.
!
• Try to create business models covering organized crime
online

8. Wide Receiver:
‘Let the guns walk’

9. The flow

10. Killed out of jail

11. Army in the streets

12. Shot to death at home

13. Cops killed

14. Near home

15. Federal security

16. By the Zetas

17. One more down

18. Out of the gym

19. Wounded doing business