A panel with Mexican and American journalists, and writers like Jon Lee Anderson, Carmen Aristegui, Paul Auster, Laura Esquivel, Don DeLillo, José Luis Martínez, Víctor Manuel Mendiola, Luis Miguel Aguilar, Adela Navarro Bello, and others will discuss the crisis in Mexico, its roots and causes, and what can be done.

Co-presented by PEN American Center, the PEN Club de México, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Co-sponsored by The Cooper Union and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

An Evening in Solidarity with Mexican Journalists

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In Mexico at least eight journalists have been murdered and many more have disappeared just since the beginning of this year. Press workers in Mexico are regularly attacked by drug traffickers, targeted by corrupt local leaders, and increasingly harassed by federal forces. Those who kill journalists are seldom brought to justice. Still, in towns and cities throughout country, journalists are daily defying Mexico’s “censorship by bullet” to expose critical truths.

What is the impact of Mexico’s soaring drug-related violence on freedom of expression and civil society in Mexico? Is the United States helping to promote or to counter the violence? What can human rights organizations and the international community do to confront the rise of criminal syndicates and other “non-state actors” that are operating with impunity in Mexico and many other countries? Above all, what is it like to be a journalist in Mexico today, and what must be done to ensure that Mexican journalists can safely carry out their work?

Join celebrated writers from the United States and Mexico for an evening of readings, reflections, and an on-stage conversation examining the situation in Mexico, its root causes and costs, and what can be done on both sides of the border to stem the violence, protect media workers, and fortify the Mexican press.