“A Mercenary, a Thug … not Even a Journalist”: The Stigmatization of News Workers in Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes a novel approach to anti-press discourse by defining it as stigmatization of journalists and developing a case study on the most dangerous country for the practice of journalism in the world, Mexico. It examines the process of stigmatization of news workers during the López Obrador administration (2018–2024), stressing its escalation after a feature that exposed the luxurious lifestyle of the Mexican president’s eldest son was published in January 2022. Drawing upon Goffman and Link and Phelan, it analyzes how the labeling, stereotyping, separation and status loss of these actors are strategically aimed at shattering their performance of professionalism through an assault on their authority and credibility.