The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting in Durban, South Africa on 7th June 2017, calls on the Mexican authorities to take urgent measures to address the safety of journalists following a recent spate of assassinations that has left four reporters dead.

Great strides have been made to raise awareness about the prevalence and dangers of harassment in the newsroom. However, gender-based violence continues to be one of the most common violations in the workplace, with online harassment becoming an increasingly pervasive problem for women journalists.

Six newspapers in Mexico and Ecuador concluded an exchange program to share experiences and learn about their operations from one other, as part of WAN-IFRA’s Media and Society Programme, funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Directors from 10 Mexican regional media outlets and representatives of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) met with authorities from the Secretary of the Interior (SEGOB) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) to express their concerns regarding the current crisis affecting journalism and to discuss the measures announced by the government to address it.