1. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
2. The history of Mexico

Before Mexico was Mexico, it was inhabited by five tribes that still influence it today- the Olmecs, the Zapotecs, the Mayans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs, according to history.com. The Aztecs were the last tribe to inhabit Mexico. Spaniard Hernan Cortes came and conquered the Aztecs in the name of Spain and colonized Nueva España. Nueva España is the same place as the Yucatan Peninsula.  Napolean Bonaparte occupied Mexico from 1808-1810 and weakened Spain’s grip on its colonies. In 1821, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Vicente Guerrero, and Agustín de Itúrbide decided that they were going to gain independence from Mexico and even drafted a Mexican constitution. The war was very costly and weakened Mexico. Agricultural and industrial efforts stopped during the war. This left Mexican impoverished and caused over half a million Mexicans to die. The country was deeply divided between the conservatives and the liberals. The conservatives wanted to establish a monarchy similar to Spain’s. The liberals wanted to adopt a federal republic system similar to the United States’ government.

Itúrbide declared himself Mexico’s first emperor in 1822. In 1823 Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna overthrew Itúrbide and drafted a new constitution. Santa Anna became the president in 1833. During the next 20 years he declared himself the president 10 more times. The Mexican government was based in Mexico City and couldn’t effectively govern the northern most parts of Mexico. Texas took advantage of this and declared independence in 1836. The United States admitted Texas into the Union in 1845 sparking the Mexican-American war. In order to stop the war Santa Anna signed the Treaty of Guadalupe. The treaty sold over half of Mexico’s territory to the United States for $15 million. The territory included Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, and California (Embajada de Mexico, 2017).

In 1857 a new constitution was written setting Mexico’s government up as a federal republic. In 1858 Benito Juarez became president and 3-year civil war started the same year and forced him to leave Mexico. The war broke out because of reform laws that decreased the power of the Catholic church.

The people were so tired of the unrest and uneven distribution of wealth in their country that they incited the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The war lasted 10 years and caused 2 million casualties (History.com, 2017). The Revolution caused a new constitution to be drafted in 1917. This constitution still governs Mexico today.

The distribution of wealth is still fairly unbalanced despite that being a factor in the start of the Mexican Revolution. The Zapatista National Liberation Army rose up and tried to fix the problem in 1994 but were quickly silenced. The economy is fragile but new foreign factories are drawing people away from Mexico City causing wealthy people to live in more areas of the country.

1. Government

Mexico is a federal republic with 31 states. All the states have their own government. Most states have a unicameral legislature. They call it the Chamber of Deputies and each member serves three years. The governors serve six years and can only serve one time. The smallest form of government in Mexico are called municipios. There are about 2,000 of them and they represent small towns or part of urban areas. Members of municipios can serve for three years. Mexico’s officials must all be popularly elected. Its constitution mirrors The United States’ constitution. The country has an executive branch, a judicial branch, and a legislative branch according to brittanica.com. Its constitution also states that they have personal freedoms and civil liberties. It also made economic and political principles for the country.

The driving party in Mexico is the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI. PRI held the presidency from 1929-2000. PRI has been accused of rigging elections. PRI has also stopped several protests against them (Brittanica, 2017). The current president is President Enrique Peña Nieto. The president must be popularly elected. The president can only serve one six-year term.

1. Economy
2. Mexico has a free market economy.
3. Current GDP is $2.2 trillion according to atlas.media.mit.edu.
4. Mexico’s top exports are cars, car parts, delivery trucks, and telephones. Mexico’s top imports are car parts, refined petroleum, integrated circuits and computers.
5. Mexico exports mainly to The United States, Canada and China. Mexico imports most of their imports from The United States, China and Germany (The Observation Economic Complexity, 2017).
6. Religion

Mexico doesn’t have an official religion. More than 80 percent of religious Mexicans are Catholic. Santería means way of the saints. People that practice Santería can also practice Catholicism. Santería is a syncretic religion pulling its elements from the religions Yoruba and Catholicism.

1. National Language

Mexico’s official language is Spanish.

1. National Media System
2. Freedom of the Press

Articles six and seven of Mexico’s constitution guarantee freedom of expression. There are several things in place to ensure journalist’s safety. However, Mexico scored 64 points out of 100 points on Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press Report where 0 is the freest and 100 is the least free. Mexico’s score is poor because journalists face severe consequences if they report on the wrong topic. Asking the wrong question can result in the journalist’s death (Freedom House, 2017).

2. Media ownership

Mexico has about 350 daily newspapers. They are privately and publicly owned. The government provides funding to the private newspapers too though. There are 236 Mexican broadcast stations. They are divided into cultural and commercial stations. The government owns cultural stations. Commercial stations must give 12 percent of their airtime to government use.

3. Safety of journalists

Last year private companies tied the deaths of 11 journalists to their work. There has been an estimated total of 100 journalists killed because of their work since 2000. Families of these journalists have made mini monuments for them but the government always takes them down (Ahmed, Azam, 2017).

4. Licensing

Journalists can practice without a license in Mexico. Colleges offer degrees in Journalism in Mexico.

5. News source

Most Mexicans get their news from more traditional media like newspapers and the radio. In 2010, only 35 percent of Mexican households had a computer with internet access. However, most Mexicans own a television and a radio either in their car or just in their home to get their news (Press Reference, 2017).

1. Compare two stories

El Universal published “Magic Towns, crippled after earthquakes,” on Oct. 2. CNN published “Earthquake in central Mexico kills scores, topples buildings” on Sept. 25. El Universal had quotes from the president and officials from cities that were affected by the earthquake. CNN had a lot of background information that El Universal didn’t include. CNN included how large the earthquake was and the areas affected as well as the death toll too. El Universal focused mainly on convincing tourists that the affected cities are still safe to see. El Universal’s encourages tourists to come because it stimulates the economy of the damaged areas. CNN focuses mainly on the destruction and how much damage was caused. CNN included around the same number of quotes as El Universal but the only quote from an official was from President Trump’s twitter. CNN’s other quotes came from ordinary people who were there when the earthquake occurred.

CNN’s story was 828 words long. El Universal’s was 687 words long. CNN included more multimedia. CNN had a photo gallery with over 40 pictures and a few videos. El Universal only had one photo of a city in the story. CNN divided its story into several mini-stories each about a person’s personal experience with the earthquake. El Universal split its stories up by city.

1. Compare to a third country’s story

The Toronto Star published “More buildings, perhaps lives at risk following Mexico Earthquake.” It gave the death toll in the lead. After the lead, it had a photo of first responders clearing the wreckage. In the first paragraph, El Universal gives some detail about the earthquakes. It gives the death toll and the magnitude of the earthquake but it doesn’t go into more detail than that. It has no photos of the wreckage despite being the closest to the affected areas. After the initial details, the Toronto Star goes into the possibility of delayed collapse and what that could mean for Mexico and anyone still trapped under the rubble. El Universal only uses a few quotes all from government officials. The Toronto Star focuses on practical things that must happen before Mexico can return to normal. Mexico will have to inspect schools before they are reopened and how the government notifies the families of people that are found dead. While El Universal focuses on attracting tourists. El Universal has more sources than The Toronto Star does. The Star has more multimedia components. It is 371 words longer than El Universal’s.

1. State of public relations and advertising

Mexico’s regulations for public relations and advertising aren’t stringent. There are certain things that Mexico has laws against to protect consumers. PROFECO allows consumers to file grievances against advertisers if they believe it was false advertisement.

Mexico doesn’t require the public relations practitioners or advertisers to be licensed. Most Mexican colleges offer a degree in public relations or a more general degree of mass communication. International Public Relations Association has Mexico chapters and a code of conduct for their members to abide by (IPRA, 2017).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research

Ahmed, Azam. (29, 2017 April). In Mexico, ‘It’s easy to kill a journalist’. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/29/world/americas/veracruz-mexico-reporters-killed.html.

Chavez, Nicole. (20, 2017 Sept.) Central Mexico earthquake kills more than 200, topples buildings. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/americas/mexico-earthquake/index.html.

Committee to Protect Journalists. (2017). 1265 Journalists Killed since 1992/Motive Confirmed Retrieved from cpj.org/killed/.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (12, 2015 June). Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Institutional-Revolutionary-Party.

El Universal Oaxaca. (2, 2017 Oct.). Magic towns crippled after earthquakes. Retrieved from http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/magic-towns-crippled-after-earthquakes.

Embajada de Mexico en Estados Unidos. (23, 2011 June). Mexican History. Retrieved from embamex.sre.gob.mx/eua/index.php/en/.

Freedom House. (2017 Jan.). Mexico Profile. Retrieved from freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/mexico.

History.com Staff. (2009). History of Mexico. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/mexico/history-of-mexico.

IPRA staff. (2017). Code of Conduct. Retrieved from http://www.ipra.org/member-services/code-of-conduct/.

The Observation Economic Complexity. (30, 2017 Nov.). Retrieved from atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/mex/.

Parkes, Henry Bamford; Griffin, Ernst C. (2016). Mexico: Government and Society. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/Government-and-society.

Verza, Maria. (25, 2017 Sept.) More buildings, perhaps lives at risk following Mexico quake. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/09/25/mexico-city-reopens-just-103-of-its-9000-schools-as-search-teams-dig-for-survivors.html.