Spectatorship and visual evidence of violence in Mexico: When the right to information becomes exploitation

This work reviews the availability of information and visual material depicting episodes of violence in Mexico published in the media and on the Internet. The discussion addresses the publication of explicit images in some Mexican and international newspapers. At the same time, the informative duty of some websites dedicated to publishing news and explicit visual material about the ongoing drug trafficking conflict is also questioned. The issue of exploitation and right to information is raised through the examples of newspapers and websites. It is argued that by reporting the conflict explicitly, media and audiences engage in a commodification of news and images, and consequently, in an exploitation practice. The constant availability of news and visual material transformed the drug conflict and associated issues into mediated entertainment. The conflict has reached a rationalization in different segments of Mexican society, while other forms of social aggression and exclusion are overshadowed. The article also deals with the ways a spectator may respond and the opposing forces at work when viewing visual material portraying events of violence