Iniciativa México, part 1

I have been meaning to post about “Iniciativa México“, the bally-hooed agreement among the larger Mexican media to adhere to what “Bloggings by Boz” called “an agreement setting guidelines for reporting on the organized crime conflict in the country.” Boz very nicely outlines the major “pros and cons” of the agreement, and have been meaning to write about what I think is an extremely important act, one that has implications far beyond the immediate “drug war” and, I believe, is probably one of the most illustrative examples of how power politics works in Mexico.

However, there are business and personal matters demanding my attention (including work on a new book, on English language writers in Mexico over the last 500 years) and I just haven’t had the time to think through, let alone write about, this critical matter. Let’s just say I see more “cons” than “pros”, and think  Iniciativa México is something of a “con” in itself.

As with any critical contemporary development, one can only understand it if one looks at history. I wanted to point to this excerpt (my translation) from El Sexenio de Televisa (Editorial Grijalbo 2010), de Jenaro Villamil, which recapitulates the short and very twisted history of Iniciativa México as it morphed from a “Star Search” (or “Big Brother”) style game-show  (in which worth-while citizen projects and Non-Governmental Organizations would compete for funding) into its incarnation as a non-state news cartel.

Iniciativa México was originally announced by Televisa President Emilio Azcárraga Jean on 12 January 2010.  According to Azcárraga’s statement on Channel 2, Iniciativa México was part of a package meant to celebrate the bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the centennial of the Revolution […]

As explained to [news presenter] Joaquín López Dóriga, Azcárraga Jean said that Iniciativa México, “seeks to find and present to the people of Mexico those that are truly making a change in this country… I think it is very important that we learn from them and follow their example.”

As presented, Iniciativa México was promoting a “theme park” of good intentions.  Under Televisa’s sponsorship, the Bicentennial celebration was being presented as a “Big Brother” type televisión program, one that favored “good causes”, independent of governmental “filters”.

However, on March 23, Azcarraga Jean[…] announced that Iniciativa México was being postponed due to  “operational problems.”

“We had to change people, something that was out of our hands.  I hope we can resolve the problem as soon as possible and make further announcements soon.”

In late April, the Iniciativa México was revived. The context had changed. On the horizon was discussion in Congress of “comprehensive reform” of the Federal Law of Radio and Television and Telecommunications, which Televisa opposed.  Criticism had also begun to develop over the apparent bias of the Felipe Calderón administration in their decision to accept two major offers for fiber optics access to  Televisa vetoed again. Criticism also began about the apparent bias of the government of Felipe Calderon accept tenders by Televisa to the Federal Electrical Commission for access both to fiber optics cable access and 1.7 Ghz band mobile telephone service.

Moreover, [… there was social and political]…  backlash against the growing number of victims in the “war” waged by Calderon against the organized crime groups, the growing unemployment crisis in the country and lack of tangible achievements to boast about in the Bicentennial year.  This  prompted the federal government to demand that television “change the perception” of the image of conflict and tension in broadcast news reports.

Cleverly, Televisa picked up the baton. Recommended by writer Hector Aguilar Camin, among others, within a few weeks, there was a new “information and analysis” channel, ForoTV on the air.  Azcarraga Jean decided to dust off  Iniciativa México, but with a more ambitious feature: Televisa remained the owner of the idea, but would not be seen as the sole sponsor.  This was an  opportunity for the major electronic and print media to demonstrate their muscle… Mexico Iniciativa ceased to be a philanthropic project and was converted into a platform to demonstrate the power of mass media and served to further Televisa’s own interests:  and who would oppose a “good cause”, saleable in the media, and socially beneficial?  Those who did so became the adversaries, promoters of pessimism and of a “Mexico that can’t”.