Marta Planells, Managing Editor
“The work of journalists is not to step on cockroaches, but to turn on the light, so that people see how the cockroaches run for cover.” — War correspondent and historian Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Alfredo Corchado has been illuminating Mexico’s darkness for many years, telling the stories that nobody else dares to tell, those of drug cartels that “infect” Mexico.
The Richland community listened carefully to the Dallas Morning News Mexico City bureau chief during the presentation of his book, “Midnight in Mexico,” at Sabine Hall Thursday.
Corchado is not a traditional war correspondent, as Kapuscinski was, nor like the World War I reporters who relayed their stories from the battlefield via telegraph however, he is reporting about a fight. Wars are different now. There are other conflicts in other settings. His is on the border of Mexico and the United States, where, as he explained in his talk, one feels lost just wondering if it is more Mexican than American.
Corchado said he feels he is a son of Mexico, and that feeling is the glue that keeps him clinging to the country where he was born, even though as a child he grew up in California. He always wanted to return, but listening to him, one realizes that he never actually left.
“Never fully Mexican, never fully American,” he said.
Corchado read parts of his story and shared some of the highlights of his career with attendees. During the noon hour he shared his thoughts during a brown bag lunch with journalism students. They discussed challenges facing the profession.
In his opinion, the future will belong to those trained in all journalistic fields. It does not work anymore just to specialize in print or broadcast media. Now the journalist has to know how to write, take pictures, shoot video and be able to move the information on social media.
Newsrooms are already seeing these changes, he said. The Dallas Morning News has implemented a morning meeting to discuss the topics to be addressed online in the afternoon, not just the ones to appear in the paper the next day.
“My mother always asks me why I’m still in Mexico and I always say it’s because I have hope. It’s in the
worst moments when I’ve seen the best of Mexicans,” he said.
Journalism has always been a risky profession. Corchado has received numerous death threats because of his articles about the cartels in Mexico. In 2007, he decided to leave Mexico because he received a tip that he was a target.
“For me it is much easier than for my [Mexican] colleagues because I have an American passport. When I do not feel safe, I can always call my boss and I always find support. I would take the first plane and come to Dallas. My colleagues in Mexico cannot do the same. That is brave,” he said.
Instead, others had left the profession without hesitation. The real journalist, however, the one who has the passion of journalism in the blood, feels a responsibility within that makes him keep working. Corchado is one of them.
“I always come back because I feel I have a responsibility to tell what’s going on. I think that stories can make a difference,” he said.
Journalism is not an 8 a.m to 5 p.m. office job. It is a profession that requires not only dedication, but also a love and a passion; it is a way of living.
One of the most exciting stories was when Corchado told how he reported the capture of one of the most pursued cartel leaders in Mexico, Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales. Corchado was the first to break the news, thanks to a tip from one of his sources. He knew he was putting his career on the line, but he was sure that the information was correct and he took the risk.
He turned out to be right, and that night he got one of the messages that excited him most in his career. Someone said, “Tonight you moved Mexico.”
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