France 5 broadcasts Tuesday evening the documentary "Project Cartel: Mexico, silence or death", produced by the international group of journalists Forbidden stories.

Its director Jules Giraudat explains in "Culture Médias", a few hours before the screening of his film, how and why this project was born.

INTERVIEW

It is a rather unusual initiative of journalists which gave birth to the documentary 

Project Cartel: Mexico, silence or death, 

broadcast Tuesday evening at 8:50 p.m. on France 5, but also in Belgium on RTBF and in Switzerland on RTS.

Jules Giraudat, the director of the film, is the guest of

Culture Médias

on the same day 

.

He explains to Philippe Vandel's microphone how the international group of journalists, Forbidden Stories and the "Cartel project", which created this documentary, were born.

>> Find Philippe Vandel and Culture-Médias every day from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

"More than 170 journalists have been killed since 2000"

In "Project Cartel: Mexico, silence or death", journalists from Forbidden Stories investigate the murder of Mexican journalist Regina Martinez, and try to continue her work. She was interested in drug traffickers and their relationships with certain elected officials.

The Cartel project was born in March 2020. "We met 60 journalists in Paris, and we worked for two days," recalls Jules Giraudat.

"The situation is extremely serious. More than 170 journalists have been killed since 2000. It is almost ten journalists a year. We wanted to investigate these questions, these threats against journalists and at the same time try to continue their work . "

To do this, the Cartel project has a strategy: "provide a global response by bringing 60 journalists in 25 countries", summarizes the journalist and director.

"We went back to work where he had left off 8 years ago"

According to him, the assassination of Regina Martinez is emblematic of the situation in Mexico. "She is the first reporter from a national media outlet to be killed. The message sent to all the other reporters was that they are all possibly in danger. It was a tipping point in Mexico, where the number of journalists killed. then increased, "says Jules Giraudat. "Above all, the Regina Martinez case is emblematic of why journalists are being killed: She was investigating the links between cartels and corrupt politicians, what is called narco-politics."

To continue Regina Martinez's work, journalists from the Cartel Project collaborated with the weekly

Proceso

, where the murdered journalist worked.

"We have resumed work where it had been stopped 8 years ago and we divided it up into small teams", specifies Jules Giraudat.

“Some went to Veracruz, others investigated money laundering policies. The aim was also to meet with relatives, colleagues, and sources who worked in government, to try to understand why she had been killed. "

The documentary of Forbidden stories 

Project Cartel: Mexico, silence or death 

is to be seen Tuesday evening at 8:50 p.m. on France 5.