Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante and Jeannine E. Relly oral history collection
Collection area: Borderlands
Collection dates: 2013-2014
This collection is comprised of mp3 files of oral histories with Mexican and U.S. journalists, activists, and dignitaries that discuss the state of journalism within Mexico, specifically the decline of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in that country's northern states. The majority of the interviews were conducted in person on location in Mexico City, Mexico and San Antonio, TX, with a few conducted via telephone or Skype. Common themes explored in these interviews include violence and crimes committed against journalists, the decline of freedom of journalism and freedom of expression in Mexico, the work being done by organizations to combat these issues, and the state of journalism under the administration of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. Other themes discussed are the internal and external pressures facing the journalism profession, including lack of training and pressure from the government to self-censor. The majority of materials were conducted in Spanish with a few conducted in English.
Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Arizona where she teaches courses on reporting on the U.S. Mexico borderlands and Latin America amongst other subjects. She is also head of the Border Journalism Network / La Red de Periodistas de la Frontera, and head of the International Communication Division of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication. Her research includes the history and development of television news and media in Latin America and violence against journalists in Mexico.
Jeannine E. Relly is an assistant professor in the University of Arizona's School of Journalism as well as an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Latin American Studies. Her research is centered on government information policy and press-state relations, democratic institutions, freedom of expression, information access within countries in conflict and political transition, and formal and informal institutions related to the policy issue of public corruption.
Gonzalez de Bustamante and Relly collected the oral histories that comprise this collection as part of research study to collect information documenting the state of journalism in Mexico. Journalists, activists, and dignitaries from Mexico and the United States were approached to participate in the study. A number of the interviews held within this collection were used as primary source materials for an article that focuses on the decline of freedom of journalism and freedom of expression within Mexico and the threat of violence towards journalists authored by Gonzalez de Bustamante and Relly published in the International Journal of Press/Politics titled "Silencing Mexico: A Study of Influences on Journalists in the Northern States". This project was funded in part by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry at the University of Arizona
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