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Carmen Aristegui, who this week said she believed the
president's office had backed her March 15 dismissal, has become
the focal point of a growing debate about whether freedom of
expression is under attack under President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Last year, Aristegui's team at MVS news network revealed both
first lady Angelica Rivera and Pena Nieto had bought or used
homes owned by a major government contractor, Grupo Higa.
Subsequent reports in other media showed that Finance Minister
Luis Videgaray also bought a house from Grupo Higa.
Aristegui, who was fired after MVS objected to her using the
company's name in conjunction with a posting on a Wikileaks-style
website, told Mexican news magazine Proceso that her employer
had tried to persuade her to drop the original story about
Rivera's luxury home.
"There was a request that this work was not put out on MVS.
There was a really tense and complex situation between us. Not
in an imposing or imperative tone, more an attempt for me to
'show understanding'," she said in Proceso's latest edition,
published this weekend.
The report was published on Nov. 9 on her website Aristegui
Noticias and was picked up widely in local and international
media. A few days earlier, the government had abruptly canceled
a multibillion-dollar rail contract awarded to a Chinese-led
consortium that included Grupo Higa.
MVS on Sunday denied that it had tried to censor Aristegui,
noting that from Nov. 10, she spent hours discussing the story
known as the Casa Blanca scandal on her MVS radio show. By then,
however, the report had become headline news in Mexico.
In a statement, MVS also pointed out that the Casa Blanca
investigation had been carried out with its funding and
resources.
Aristegui says she wants her old job back. But MVS, which has
denied that the government tried to push Aristegui out, has
dismissed the idea of bringing her back.
Last week, in response to the Aristegui dispute, Mexico's
Interior Ministry said it was committed to a free and
independent press.
(Reporting by Mexico City Newsroom; Editing by Tom Brown)
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