A lesson on Ethics from Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Excelsior and La Razon about the Lopez Obrador travel to Italy

On April 22, 2014 several respectable online websites: Excelsior, La Razon posted a picture of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador allegedly in Italy. Columnists wonder how much did the travel cost, where did the money come from, and why he didn't use that money to help the poor

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is the most important leftist leader in Mexico, 2 times presidential candidate and appointed candidate for next elections on 2018. Over last 14 years he had been slandered in Mexican media, treated with contemptuous rudeness by journalist like no one else.

The source of this picture is an otherwise unknown twitter user named: Jesus Soberon. He tweeted her niece "found" AMLO in Italy on April 18, 2014. He doesn't specify if her niece is on the picture. He doesn't say where exactly this picture was taken. This user Jesus Soberon is not available for questioning because his account is private. This single unconfirmed twitter report made the headlines.

The “news” of the travel of Lopez Obrador was broadcasted by TV too. Media says it's not on them to ask further questions but just spread the word. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel laureate writer and journalist wrote on a short essay called “Journalist: The best Job of the World”

“... investigation is not just an specialty of the job but all journalism must be investigative by definition, the consciousness that ethics is not an occasional condition, but must always accompany journalism like buzz to hornets..”

More than a week later neither La Razón nor Excelsior have made a breakthrough on the story, they could have asked for an official statement from Lopez Obrador, the Mexican Government and airline companies, but apparently they chose not. They stay just with the tweet, yet they make assumptions on where the money came from, as if the trip were a solid fact.

On May 18, 2010 Excelsior published on his editorial “Frentes Politicos” AMLO confused 19th century President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna with contemporary guitar player Carlos Santana. The next day Excelsior published an apology because after listening a recording was clear such mistake didn't happen. Excelsior put the blame on an unnamed news agency that didn't make an accurate transcript of AMLO speech.

Again the words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who passed away a few weeks ago:

“... this ethics abuses obey to a dauntless notion of the job, taken consciously and founded with pride on the enshrinement of the first news at any cost and over all. They are not moved by the foundation that the best news is not always the first published but many times that given better...”

 

Update. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed on July 8^th 2014 a trip to Italy, funded with the earnings of his last book. It was not the Mexican media, but AMLO himself who made the announcement in his Facebook account.