IAPA deems Mexico most dangerous place in continent for journalists (and only second behind Iraq in the world)

In the wake of Mexico's being deemed by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) the most dangerous country in the continent to be involved in the media, I have decided to take a break from the blog to avoid putting myself, and loved ones, in any kind of danger...just kidding. In all seriousness, this announcement is somewhat of a blow to Mexico's international reputation after spending years trying to convince the world that its media suppression tendencies of the 1970s are a thing of the past. Certainly, there have been advancements as well. Firstly, a bill was passed in April decriminalizing libel, defamation and slander on the national level, granting the Mexican media greater artistic freedom than its ever enjoyed before. And secondly, the attacks on the press are now normally the doing of narco-traffickers and local, corrupt officials along the northern border and not of the national government itself (it actually sounded like a much greater achievement before I wrote it out).

However, there's still lots of room for improvement in the security measures that the governments on the local and national levels can take in order to ensure the safety of the media. A first, pretty rudimentary step would be the states' ratification of the April bill.