But documenting the mayhem is among the riskiest assignments. The lurid details guarantee web hits in an era of intensified competition and dwindling advertising revenue. The crime beat is known as la nota roja, the red story. People were yelling that other shop owners had been killed. You could hear the ambulance and more police cars arriving. "People were running around asking what was happening. "It was a total chaos," Vázquez said in a Facebook Live broadcast in September, recalling the latest gang attack on a Salamanca market where hitmen regularly target merchants who rebuff shakedowns. Whether the topic was crime, soccer or the downtrodden, his on-scene dispatches made him a local celebrity, the charismatic face of the news site El Salmantino. Vázquez was aggressive, flashed a wide smile and seemed to get along with most everyone - victims, witnesses, cops, politicians. They walk a fine line, sometimes withholding details in reports - such as the names of gangs suspected in killings - so as to not inflame those inclined to seek revenge against the news media. They vie for scoops, but also pool leads with colleagues in the close-knit fraternity. These newshounds scrutinize social media, work police sources and follow tips, often speeding to crime scenes on motorcycles. Typically from working-class backgrounds, they're adrenaline-driven, digital-age throwbacks to the days of Weegee, the 20th century chronicler of the New York underworld. He would eventually develop another specialty - crime reporting.Ĭrime journalists in Mexico are a singular breed. Widely known by the diminutive Isra, he was animated about soccer and a committed fan of the professional Club León who covered the sport fervently. “Israel was always very enthusiastic, ready to learn, always staying late to find out more information,” said Jesús Padilla, an editor of the newspaper am, where Vázquez began his career. A story he never got to file.Ī native of Salamanca, a gritty petrochemical hub nearly 160 miles northwest of Mexico City, Vázquez studied communications in college and followed the path of two elder siblings into journalism. (Periodico AM)īut this assignment ended up being his last.
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