Family Life Is on the Line in Powerful Mexican Journalism Film

In the lead-up to World Press Freedom Day, Article 19 Office for Mexico and Central America, Diario La Unión, and Grey México present 'Bullet Machine' - a campaign that exposes how, in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalism, journalists' families also live under threat.

The short film, directed by Andrea Pele and Francisco Paparella, takes the audience inside a home where a journalist and his family are under attack. Ernesto, an investigative journalist, is writing a story in the middle of the night. Every keystroke becomes a bullet. His wife, Ámbar, shields their daughters from the gunfire and begs him to stop writing. He stops, and the bullets cease - but telling the truth is inevitable: when he starts writing again, the shooting returns. No one chose to be in the crosshairs.

That is the brutality Bullet Machine puts on screen. Violence against the press is not limited to those who practice journalism - it reaches their families too, who carry the fear and the consequences in silence.

Since 2000, Article 19 has documented that 176 journalists have been killed and 31 remain disappeared in Mexico. In 2024, the organisation recorded 639 attacks against the press - a figure that confirms an unrelenting trend. Furthermore, eight out of 10 cases go without justice. As long as impunity prevails, journalism will remain a high-risk profession.

"In a global context of alarming increases in lethal violence against the press, Mexico is the most dangerous country for journalism without a declared war. Faced with this reality, successive governments have been inefficient and indifferent," says Leopoldo Maldonado, regional director of Article 19 Office for Mexico and Central America.

Bullet Machine is a tribute to those who, despite the fear, continue to practice journalism - and to the families who sustain their courage. As Javier Valdez Cárdenas, a journalist from Sinaloa murdered in 2017, once said: 'To stay silent is to die.'

​Alexis Ospina, chief creative officer of Grey México, adds, "Today more than ever, freedom of expression is under threat. Bullet Machine is not just a short film - it is a call to collective conscience. We want society to understand that behind every journalist there is a family that also suffers the consequences of violence. Creating these stories is our way of demanding respect and protection for those who, with every word, defend the truth."

A series of denunciation that began in 2024

Bullet Machine is the third instalment in a series of campaigns that have charted a path of denunciation and memory:

• In 2024, El Último Viaje demanded justice for the murder of journalist Moisés Sánchez.
  
• In 2025, The Shooting exposed the imbalance of power between those who fire bullets and those who document reality with a camera.
  
• This year, Bullet Machine expands the indictment to the collateral damage that violence against journalists leaves in their homes.
  

"When tragedy strikes, no family is prepared for a scenario of violence and uncertainty. Families are left vulnerable. On one side, the fear that criminals will cause more harm, that the nightmare will worsen. On the other, a Mexican State that has no interest in the suffering - it only wants you to be quiet, to stop making the politician of the moment uncomfortable. Some families protest, march, fight against impunity. Along the way we find other voices that fight back - expressing themselves in words and spaces, in images, in sounds and silences," says Jorge Sánchez, director of Diario La Unión and son of journalist Moisés Sánchez.

Defending press freedom also means defending those who share their lives with the people who inform us. Grey México, Article 19, and Diario La Unión invite the public to join this cause - to protect freedom of expression and stand behind those who, with every story published, bring us closer to the truth.

Article 19 Office for Mexico and Central America is an independent human rights organization with a presence in more than 100 countries. It works to guarantee freedom of expression and the right to information, protecting journalists, media outlets, and citizens from censorship, violence, and impunity - making aggression against the press visible, supporting victims, and demanding justice. Because without freedom of expression, there is no democracy.