Culiacan:
Journalists in a northwestern Mexican state plagued by drug violence denounced on Friday a new law that will impose strict limits on how they can cover crime.
The Sinaloa state congress approved on Wednesday legislation that will restrict reporters to official government press releases for information about violence.
The state is home to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the country's biggest crime syndicate. The cartel's leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was captured in Sinaloa in February after 13 years on the lam.
The law, pushed through by Governor Mario Lopez Valdez within two weeks of being introduced, bars journalists from taping audio, capturing video images or taking pictures of a crime scene.
Officials from the state prosecutor's office are no longer allowed to give information to journalists without authorization from the agency's chief.
"What's going to happen to media and journalists who get information and publish it? Will they be detained?" asked Gabriel Mercado, head of the June 7 Journalists and Communicators Association.
The association and the civil society group Sinaloa Initiative dubbed it the "Gag Law" and threatened to challenge the legislation in court if the government refuses to change it.
Mexico's drug war has already turned the country into one of the most dangerous places in the world to report the news.
In some northern states, newspapers have censored themselves from reporting drug-related crimes due to threats from cartels. Journalists have been assassinated while offices of news outlets have been shot at.
Despite the dangers, it has been common for news organizations to take pictures of gruesome crime scenes, from decapitated bodies to victims hanging from bridges.
More than 80,000 people have been killed in turf wars between cartels and street battles with security forces since troops were deployed to crack down on gangs in 2006.
At least 78 journalists have been killed due to their work since 2000, according to media rights group Article 19.
The Sinaloa state congress approved on Wednesday legislation that will restrict reporters to official government press releases for information about violence.
The state is home to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the country's biggest crime syndicate. The cartel's leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was captured in Sinaloa in February after 13 years on the lam.
The law, pushed through by Governor Mario Lopez Valdez within two weeks of being introduced, bars journalists from taping audio, capturing video images or taking pictures of a crime scene.
Officials from the state prosecutor's office are no longer allowed to give information to journalists without authorization from the agency's chief.
"What's going to happen to media and journalists who get information and publish it? Will they be detained?" asked Gabriel Mercado, head of the June 7 Journalists and Communicators Association.
The association and the civil society group Sinaloa Initiative dubbed it the "Gag Law" and threatened to challenge the legislation in court if the government refuses to change it.
Mexico's drug war has already turned the country into one of the most dangerous places in the world to report the news.
In some northern states, newspapers have censored themselves from reporting drug-related crimes due to threats from cartels. Journalists have been assassinated while offices of news outlets have been shot at.
Despite the dangers, it has been common for news organizations to take pictures of gruesome crime scenes, from decapitated bodies to victims hanging from bridges.
More than 80,000 people have been killed in turf wars between cartels and street battles with security forces since troops were deployed to crack down on gangs in 2006.
At least 78 journalists have been killed due to their work since 2000, according to media rights group Article 19.
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