President López Obrador has described The New York Times as a famous newspaper with “few ethics” three days after the newspaper reported that the federal government is not reporting all coronavirus-related deaths in Mexico City.
“An article came out in The New York Times a few days ago about the concealment of deaths. It’s the same thing that some media outlets in Mexico have claimed,” he told reporters at his regular news conference on Monday morning.
“The New York Times is a famous newspaper but with few ethics. It is clear in this case that they didn’t do a good job, that they acted in a biased way.”
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell and the mayor of Mexico City have both denied that coronavirus deaths in the capital are not being reported by federal authorities.
López Obrador blamed “neoliberalism” – his favorite punching bag – for a deterioration of journalism in Mexico and the wider world, asserting that “alternate models” need to be created “with the participation of the citizens.”
The publication of the Times‘ story set off a chain reaction on Twitter, he said, asserting that “all the conservatives in Mexico or their spokespersons” retweeted the article.
“Like this,” the president said, drawing a circle in the air with his finger, seemingly indicating that the “conservatives” are caught up in their own echo chamber.
“Journalists, organic intellectuals [and] corrupt politicians” all shared the story on social media, López Obrador said, charging that they knew that the article was to be published because they all immediately – and simultaneously – shared it.
“All of them pounced on it,” the president said with a broad grin on his face.
“There’s no reason to be alarmed, this is normal. The truth is that a transformation [of Mexico] is being carried out and the conservatives are very annoyed,” he said.
“There has never been a situation like this in which privileges were ended, in which the economic power is separated from political power, in which the government is not dominated by groups with vested interests, in which it was decided to put an end to corruption and impunity,” López Obrador added.
“This weighs on them and it will take them time to get used to the new reality.”
Source: Reforma (sp)
