Please join the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute and the SMU Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center for "Freedom of the Press: Perspectives from Mexico and the U.S." This event is part of the DCII's Big Challenge Series on Strengthening Democracy.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. In this event, acclaimed Texan journalist Alfredo Corchado will talk about his professional and personal experiences while acting as the Mexico Bureau Chief for the Dallas Morning News, and why risking his life for truth is so important. He will also discuss how restrictions on press freedom threaten democracy not just in Mexico, but in the United States. 

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Pablo Mijangos y González, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Chair in History at SMU. 

Alfredo Corchado is the editor and correspondent for Puente News Collaborative, which provides news content about Mexico and the border to multiple news partners throughout the United States. He was the longtime Mexico Bureau Cheif for the Dallas Morning News where he covered U.S. policy in Latin America. He has also worked for the Dallas Morning News in Cuba and Washington. Before joining The News, Mr. Corchado worked in public radio on the border, the Ogden Standard-Examiner in Utah, the El Paso Herald-Post, and The Wall Street Journal. His reporting has earned him several awards, including the Maria Moors Cabot award presented by Columbia University and the Elijah Parrish Lovejoy prize presented by Colby College. He was a finalist for the Center for Public Integrity award in Washington for his reporting on Ciudad Juarez and the rise of a Mexican paramilitary group known as the Zetas. Corchado is a leading reporter on the drug-related violence that continues to dominate the border region and threaten Mexico's national security and border communities. He served as a 2010 scholar at The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and was a Nieman Fellow in 2009 at Harvard University. He was also a visiting fellow at the David Rockefeller Center at Harvard. His book, Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey Through a Country's Descent into Darkness, was published in 2013 and chronicles Corchado's experiences covering the drug war in Mexico.