Deadliest beat: Reporting on Mexico’s war on drugs

The daily headlines in the Mexican media are filled with the litany of death and violence that is Mexico today. 

The Deadliest Beat is the inside story of Mexico’s drug war as seen through the work of two newspapers in Sinaloa, northwestern Mexico. As the journalists risk their lives to cover – and uncover – the story, the dangers of their work unfold.

Photojournalist Ernesto Martinez reflects on the personal cost to him and his family of his work, while he follows and films the grim fallout of drug wars. And the newsmen of the weekly paper Riodoce tackle the complex politics behind the war on drugs, chasing stories that more than hint at collusion and corruption in high places.

This film, originally made in 2011, tracks two local newspapers for two days and shows a grim outlook for those who are determined to report the truths of Mexico’s bloody drugs war.

But how are these journalists coping now, six years on? REWIND returns to Culiacan to find out.

Update: Javier Valdez, featured in this film, was shot and killed in Culiacan, Sinaloa on May 15, 2017.