Mexican Journalist Receives Award for Drug Violence Coverage

By Monica Ortiz Uribe, KJZZ News for Fronteras

LAS CRUCES – A Mexican journalist will receive an award for her coverage of drug violence in a dangerous border city.

The Daniel Pearl award goes to journalists who exhibit tremendous courage in their work.  This year it goes to Sandra Rodriguez Nieto who reported for El Diario newspaper in the Mexican border city of Juárez.  She reported during a wave of drug violence that resulted in thousands of murders, including two of her colleagues.

SANDRA RODRIGUEZ NIETO:  “I didn’t think a lot about the danger.  I was convinced that my job as a journalist was the most important thing.”

Rodriguez uncovered stories of government corruption, failures in the judicial system and wrote a book about how criminal organizations influence the city’s youth.  She’ll receive the award in a ceremony this June in Los Angeles.