Ask Amnesty

From John C. Vrakas, Kansas City, MO:

I saw a documentary about the Juarez murders that was critical of the US media for providing little or no coverage of this tragedy. Is it within the mission of AI to pressure the media into greater coverage of human rights abuses?

Media Director Wende Gozan responds:

Dear John,

When AI releases a major document addressing any human rights issue, we develop a media strategy aimed at obtaining coverage of our report. In the case of the Ciudad Juarez murders, there has been ongoing media coverage over the years, and that coverage has quite possibly increased since Amnesty International launched it's report on the subject in August 2003. An AIUSA press officer accompanied the IS mission to ensure coverage in the US newspapers. Since then, AIUSA pitched the internationally viewed, US-based Christina show, which did one hour on the tragedy, an AIUSA-UCLA conference on the subject led to a major piece in the LA Times. AIUSA's work with Congress, which has included a delegation visit to Ciudad Juarez in November 2003 and lobbying for a Congressional resolution on Juarez, has led consistently to coverage in regional and Spanish language press.

AI will continue to work with the media on Juarez as it undertakes its two-year Stop Violence Against Women campaign.