Protests Over Biased Election Coverage Continue in Mexico
Protests over the recent Mexican presidential elections have continued throughout the month of July. This past Friday, July 27th, another large-scale protest occurred, in which thousands of protestors blockaded the Televisa studios for 24 hours, demanding that Mexico’s most popular television station “tell the truth.” As The Guardian reports, “the protesters allege that Televisa supported Enrique Peña Nieto, who won the election by almost 7 percentage points over leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.” These accusations of biased coverage may have been sparked when “López Obrador…claimed that Peña Nieto paid Televisa for favourable coverage and bought votes. He has filed a legal challenge to the vote with an electoral tribunal, asking it to annul the ballot.” Though Televisa (obviously) argues that its election coverage was balanced, it may be impossible to prove anything at this point. The electoral tribunal is expected to uphold Peña Nieto’s election, despite López Obrador’s legal dispute.
It’s very unusual to see people protest against an event that takes place in the United States on a daily basis during every election. Biased media coverage is a serious problem when it comes to fair elections because for many people, the sole source of information upon which to cast their vote comes from the media. That being said, both sides tend to only have a problem with bias when it is against the candidate that they support, leading to somewhat of a double standard.