A Budding Mexican Newspaper Finds Its Niche: Honesty   

"The tradition for journalists in Guadalajara was always that the government was right, and society had to take it," says one reporter at the 11-month-old Mexican daily, Siglo 21 ("21st Century"). Not anymore. Since its debut, the newspaper has offered something new – balanced reporting – and readers have snatched it up.

Gone are the paid advertisements masquerading as news and the uncritical coverage of the government that dominate the Mexican press. After more than two years of planning – including a year studying the European press – Editor Jorge Zepeda has put together a newspaper whose stories are tough and concise (no jumps) and in which ads are clearly labeled and boxed. To prevent the customary payoffs from sources or advertising commissions that many Mexican reporters receive, Zepeda says reporters on the 129-member staff take home $775 to $1160 a month, or three times what many other Guadalajara journalists earn – and no commissions.

Siglo 21 was founded with $4 million by real estate magnate Alfonso Dau. Tired of Guadalajara politics-as-usual, Dau says he wanted a paper that would "strive for responsible journalism."

The paper struggled during its first few months. Besides the expected distribution problems, its budding reputation for honesty was called into question by the fact that Dau's cousin was the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate for mayor. That led many readers to pigeonhole Siglo 21 as just another government mouthpiece. Even worse, the paper's first edition appeared – after a series of delays – on the same day Dau's cousin announced his campaign. "It felt like hitting a wall," recalls Zepeda. "But how could we postpone two years of work?"

The newspaper's circulation inched along, with sales of 4,000 to 5,000 copies a day until April 22, when the sewers in a working-class Guadalajara neighborhood exploded after volatile chemicals seeped into the pipes. The accident killed more than 200 people, rendered thousands homeless and brought cries of public outrage.

Siglo 21 sprang into action. "And the explanation?" read the headline atop the next day's front page. The government answered the question quickly, jailing nine local officials. Over the next few weeks and months, the paper's staff continued to interview victims and pummel officials with questions.

Circulation tripled, Zepeda says. Reporter Alejandra Xanic, who had written a late-breaking story of residents complaining about the smell of gas the day before the explosions and who aggressively pursued the larger story, won one of Mexico's prestigious National Journalism Prizes.

"Siglo 21 wrote about what people wanted to know, not what the government said," says one newsstand owner.

Jaime Sánchez Susarrey, a sociologist at the University of Guadalajara, notes that changing political views in the city also may explain the paper's success. More Mexicans have become critical and demanding of the government, he says, especially since the hotly contested 1988 presidential race. The PRI has also lost some of its grip on day-to-day life.

Zepeda says he has not been pressured by the local government to slant Siglo 21's reporting, though he says he has received calls from one official who continually wanted to "clarify" stories. Reporter Patricia Ruvalcaba says that while no one at the newspaper has fallen victim to the violent attacks against journalists that have occurred elsewhere in Mexico, some have received threatening phone calls and others have had their cars vandalized.

But the newspaper's staff is determined to plunge ahead. "When people say, 'I saw it in Siglo 21,' that should mean it holds up against what everyone else is saying," Zepeda says. " 'I saw it in Siglo 21' should mean it's true."