Narco News
Encyclopedia
Narco News is an online newspaper that covers the "War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...

” and social movements throughout the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. Its articles are available in English and Spanish, with some translations in Italian, French, Portuguese, and German. Narco News is funded by the Fund for Authentic Journalism
Authentic Journalism
Authentic Journalism is a term used by Al Giordano to describe a journalism unadulterated by money that "has a clear vision, a vision consistent with an authentically democratic society"...

.

The founder and editor of Narco News is American journalist Al Giordano
Al Giordano
Al Giordano is a journalist who operates the Narco News Bulletin, reporting on the War on Drugs, the political blog The Field, reporting on American politics, and the School of Authentic Journalism...

. The web magazine currently has correspondents in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and other Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n countries.

Banamex v. Narco News

In 1996, Mexican newspaper Por Esto!
Por Esto!
Por Esto! is a daily Mexican newspaper headquartered in Mérida, Yucatán. It has offices in Cancún, Quintana Roo, and several bureaus...

 began running reports that Roberto Hernández – at the time the president of Mexican bank Banamex – was trafficking cocaine on a property he owned near Cancún
Cancún
Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...

 in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....

. Por Esto!'s publisher, Mario Menéndez, was subsequently sued in Mexican court for libel. The court found that Menéndez had not libeled, a decision upheld in appeal. A third appeal was made and thrown out of court.

Narco News began publishing the same story in English from its website, allowing the story to reach a wider audience. This culminated in a publicity tour in New York, including a forum at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 with both Giordano and Menéndez in attendance. Banamex then sued Narco News and Menéndez together, maintaining that because potentially libelous information in the news stories were repeated in New York, and that the operators of Narco News' web host were headquartered in New York (although the servers were in Maryland), New York therefore had jurisdiction over the matter.

Aside from the propriety of a foreign company filing a case in New York for libel against its president, the case also raised several questions over the rights of websites:
Because of the potential ramifications of the case, The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...

 offered itself as amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

. Thomas Lesser, who had previously been Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....

's lawyer in his case against the CIA, represented Narco News while Giordano represented himself. Mendéndez hired Martin Garbus
Martin Garbus
Martin Garbus is an American attorney. He has tried cases throughout the country involving constitutional, criminal, copyright, and intellectual property law. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States...

 as his lawyer, although the court found that it did not have personal jurisdiction over Menéndez.

The New York Supreme Court
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...

 found that Narco News had not libeled; in fact, the court had not offered any evidence to refute either Por Esto! or Narco News' claims. The court set a precedent when it found that Narco News, despite being a website, was similar enough to traditional media that the first amendment applied to it and similar sites as it did any other news-based media. The text of the decision reads:

House of Death

Narco News was the first publication to investigate the "House of Death
House of Death
The House of Death refers to a serial killing site in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where executions were committed by members of the Juárez Cartel, some allegedly with the knowledge and participation of a United States undercover informant known by the pseudonym "Lalo", who had...

" murders in 2005 indicating that U.S. officials had forehand knowledge of planned murders but failed to intervene. Investigative journalist
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

 Bill Conroy received intimidating visits at his office, his home, and a visit to his employer from officers of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...

 (ICE), an event that prompted a letter by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...

 reprimanding United States Attorney Johnny Sutton
Johnny Sutton
Johnny Sutton is an attorney who served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas from 2001 until 2009, and chaired the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Sutton is known for the prosecution of United States Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and...

for "an attempt ... to intimidate a journalist who has reported facts that are embarrassing to him".

External links

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