‘Troubling and Unacceptable’ New York Times Calls Out Mexican President After He Doxes Reporter

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via AP

The New York Times bit back on Thursday after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador raged against the paper in a press conference and even doxed a correspondent.

“This is a troubling and unacceptable tactic from a world leader at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise,” reads a statement from the New York Times Communications. “We have since published the findings from this investigation, and stand by our reporting and the journalists who pursue the facts where they lead.”

At a press conference in the morning, López Obrador published the contact information for Mexico bureau for the Times. The president went on to display the contact information for Times correspondent Natalie Kitroeff as he read from messages where she was seeking comment for a report.

The Times story was published shortly after López Obrador ended his presser.

The report covers a U.S. inquiry into possible cartel ties to some of the Mexican president’s allies.

Kitroeff and Alan Feuer reported:

American law enforcement officials spent years looking into allegations that allies of Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, met with and took millions of dollars from drug cartels after he took office, according to U.S. records and three people familiar with the matter.

The inquiry, which has not been previously reported, uncovered information pointing to potential links between powerful cartel operatives and Mexican advisers and officials close to the president while he governed the country.

The inquiry was ultimately put on ice and a formal investigation was never launched, according to the report. López Obrador called allegations “completely false.”

Reporters Without Borders refers to Mexico as “one of the world’s most dangerous and deadly countries for journalists.”