Mexicans Are Using Social Media To Report the Drug War

Traditional media easily intimidated by cartels

They tweet and blog about street gunfights and murders in Mexican regions plagued by the drug war, keeping people informed about gangland crimes which local newspapers are too afraid to report on.

With traditional media often intimidated by drug cartels, social media has given Mexicans a way to stay appraised about the dangers lurking in their towns and cities.

"They are killing like crazy! There's a shootout in the Lazaro Cardenas neighborhood. Steer clear of that area," read a warning tweeted by a writer in the northern city of Monterrey, the country's industrial heart now beset by drug violence.