The International Press Institute (IPI) and IMS announced Mexican investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui as the recipient of the 2023 World Press Freedom Hero award.
The award honours Aristegui’s decades of fearless reporting on corruption in Mexico regardless of the government in power, and her unyielding commitment to critical journalism in the face of targeted efforts to silence her.
For her vigorous watchdog journalism, Aristegui has been subject to a range of abuses at the hands of the Mexican state and other powerful actors, including smear campaigns and politically motivated firings. She and her family were illegally targeted with Pegasus surveillance beginning in 2015, in one of the first known uses of the powerful spyware against journalists.
Despite working under threat in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalism, Aristegui has never wavered from her journalistic mission. Her fortitude has gained her widespread respect and inspired a generation as a prominent female investigative reporter in Mexico’s male-dominated media industry.
In a country where polarized political discourse and misinformation are on the rise, and where a journalist or media outlet is attacked every 13 hours, independent journalism, such as the kind that Aristegui practises and represents, is not only necessary but also a key element of democracy.
The award will be presented together with the IPI-IMS Free Media Pioneer award during a special ceremony on May 25, 2023, in Vienna as part of IPI’s annual World Congress.
A thorn in the side of power
Aristegui has spent nearly three decades breaking major stories on high-level corruption in Mexico, working mainly in radio and television, including CNN en Español. Her work is distinguished by an unflinching willingness to shine a critical light on some of Mexico’s most powerful institutions, despite the risks such reporting entails. Indeed, her journalism has repeatedly been a thorn to the side of those in power – frequently making her the target of reprisals.
In 2015, Aristegui was fired from the radio broadcaster MVS shortly after she and her team reported on a dubious real-estate deal by the wife of then-President Enrique Peña Nieto and after she helped launch MexicoLeaks, a Wikileaks-style platform designed to help expose corruption.
The firing was widely seen as politically motivated and a court later ruled it illegal. She had been dismissed once before from her position at MVS under pressure from the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, before being rehired after a public outcry.
Two years later, a group of Mexican human rights organizations published a report revealing Aristegui had been subject to surveillance using the powerful Pegasus spyware in 2015 and 2016. The surveillance also targeted her then 16-year-old son Emilio as well as two colleagues; her sister, a producer, and a former assistant were also believed to have been suspected targets.
After her second dismissal from MVS, Aristegui continued to broadcast on CNN en Español and founded a news outlet called Aristegui Noticias, where she continues to produce hard-hitting investigative coverage on Mexico’s governing elite.
In response, Aristegui has been the target of repeated verbal attacks and attempted smears by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who regularly uses his press briefings to lash out at perceived enemies in the media and civil society.
