The profile of journalists in northeastern Mexico, environments, and challenges in the face of the health contingency of COVID-19

Abstract

Journalism is a fundamental piece in society, in the face of the health contingency of COVID-19, to inform us and to counteract the overabundance of false information that spreads rapidly on the networks. The article explores, in the context of the pandemic, the environments and challenges of journalistic activity in northeastern Mexico, one of the most dangerous countries to practice journalism. This is a descriptive study with a mixed approach; quantitatively, a survey was applied to an intentional representative sample of journalists from the states of Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas and qualitatively, a focus group was held with 7 journalists from the same region whose data was used as information on the validity of concurrent criteria. The results show that journalists

 mention their profession as one of great risk, especially due to the attacks on journalists that prevail in this region and increased during the pandemic. The economic crisis in media companies and job insecurity intensified the problems they face. In addition, they point out that the praxis of the companies, the impunity and the constant attacks by the government on the work of journalists have built a collective imaginary of discredit towards them.