Journalist shot dead in Mexico, sixth reporter to be killed in 2020

A Mexican press reporter has been shot dead in crime-ridden Ciudad Juarez near the US border, Chihuahua state governor Javier Corral announced on Friday.

Arturo Alba Medina is the sixth reporter to have been assassinated this year in Mexico, one of the world’s most threatening nations for journalists.

Corral condemned the “cowardly murder” and said he had told prosecutors to ensure the killers are punished.

“Justice will be served,” he wrote on Twitter.

The 49-year-old reporter and television news program host was killed a few minutes after the end of his show on Thursday as per the country's media agencies.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Mexico beside war-torn Syria and Afghanistan as well as the Philippines as amongst the world’s most unsafe nations for the news media.

More than 100 journalists and other media operators have been murdered since 2000 in Mexico, where suggesting questions about political corruption or dominant drug cartels can be a dangerous business. Only a portion of those offences has ended in sentences.

In early August, another reporter was killed in the state of Guerrero along with a policeman.

In May, criminals killed the proprietor of a paper and one of the policemen who had been appointed to shield him in northern Sonora state, following more unexpected intimidations.

Murders have rebounded in Mexico in the last two years, marking the difficulties President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has suffered since taking office in December 2018 with a commitment to decreasing disturbance in the country ravaged by notorious drug cartels.

Most of the killings were connected to struggling between drug organisations. Obrador has promised to “care for and protect” journalists.

During his antecedent Enrique Pena Nieto’s tenure, at least 42 reporters were killed while there were about 2,000 attacks on journalists

In 2019, 10 journalists were killed in Mexico alone, according to an RSF count.