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Reporter’s murder shows cost of pursuing the truth

“In the Mouth of the Wolf: A Murder, a Coverup, and the True Cost of Silencing the Press,” by Katherine Corcoran (Bloomsbury)

The confluence of corrupt governance, poverty, drug trafficking and reporters who can be bought is a dangerous place for reporters and democracy.

Accomplished Mexican investigative reporter Regina Martinez paid with her life for her relentless reporting on criminal behavior by officials, government ministers, police and anyone else who violated a public trust.

In this book, former Associated Press reporter and bureau chief Katherine Corcoran takes up a consuming quest during her time in Mexico — who killed investigative reporter Regina Martinez?

Corcoran’s book is what we in journalism like to call “a cautionary tale” — a story about what could happen if we don’t address a problem — in Mexico’s case a news media under attack and not widely respected, and therefore easy for unscrupulous politicians and government power to control.

Could that happen in the U.S.? Think back to a recent president’s characterization of the American news media as “the enemy of the people.”

As Corcoran observes: “A society without truth is a scary place to live.” JEFF ROWE, MDT/AP

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