Manipulating the Mexican press : the Mexican government's regulatory role in freedom of information, gatekeeping and eliciting self-censorship among the press

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia.The project examines the provisions of the Ley Federal de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública Gubernamental, Mexico's progressive freedom of information law. The law is considered one of the most progressive transparency laws in the world. Using gatekeeping theory, the study analyzes how the government acts as a regulator on the gatekeeping role of the press. According to Peter J. Fourie, a political power acts as a regulator through specific expectations on how the media “should fulfill their role in society, ” and says these expectations become “normative pointers,” that shape media behaviors. Forms of government feedback enforce these intrinsic “pointers” which arise in newsrooms, during the reporting process and in the information negotiation process