Article 19, an international NGO committed to protecting freedom of expression and information, reported that seven journalists were murdered in Mexico, along with two disappearances and eight violent attacks on the media. The report, titled “Double murder: press between violence and impunity” identifies all attacks suffered last year by journalists including threats, destruction of property, forced displacement, extortion, and kidnapping.

“It is the face of impunity which leaves journalists increasingly vulnerable,” says Diego Osorno, editor of Gatopardo in Mexico and member of Article 19.

Contributor writer to the report Dario Ramirez says, “"We must reverse the silence and ensure the free flow of information." Following the release of the report, Mexico’s chapter of Article 19 released a hashtag “Impunity Kills” on their Twitter.

Five of the seven murders were committed in the state of Veracruz, which since 2011 has been the state hardest hit by the violence of drug cartels and military offensives.

According to the NGO, 31 journalists were forced to leave their place of residence during the past two years in the face of threats of organized crime. However, state officials were allegedly responsible for nearly 44 percent of attacks against freedom of expression in 2012. The perception that not only criminal organizations are involved in the violence is one of the major concerns of the NGO.

“No se mata la verdad matando periodistas,” or “Killing journalists doesn’t kill the truth," is the title of an initiative, now seeking crowdfunding, in which 126 Mexican journalists will each recount the story of one of their 126 counterparts who has “disappeared” or been killed amidst a dozen years of armed conflict between rival drug trafficking cartels and government forces.

The “Drug War,” declared in 2006, has submerged the country in an unprecedented wave of bloodshed, affecting millions and claiming tens of thousands of lives.

Among those worst-affected by targeted killings and other brutal crime have been the country’s journalists and photographers, particularly those who cover the police force and government, as well as bloggers, editors, media publishers, and anyone who makes it his or her business to spread the truth about the violence that is boiling within Mexico.

A cache of leaked documents obtained by the Guardian appears to show that Televisa, Mexico’s largest television company, which has recently been at the centre of a protest movement against media bias in the lead-up to the July 1 presidential elections, has a history of selling its editorial line to political interests.

The documents, presumed to be several years old, include outlines of fees that the television network apparently charged in exchange for giving favourable coverage to former Mexico state governor Enrique Peña Nieto on its news and entertainment programmes. The cache also includes a PowerPoint presentation with the stated aim of ensuring that leftwing candidate Manuel López Obrador did not win the 2006 elections, wrote the Guardian’s Jo Tuckman in an article published on Thursday. Peña Nieto is presently the frontrunner – by a wide but shrinking margin – in Mexico’s presidential race. López Obrador, who lost the elections in 2006, is his closest rival.