The Image of the Journalist in the work by Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi

This article offers an approach to the image of the journalist in the transition between colonial and independent periods in Mexico, through the journalistic work of Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi (1776-1827). In the argument we reviewed the meta-journalistic references in his main newspapers -El Pensador Mexicano, Conversaciones del Payo y el Sacristan, Alacena de friolera- and also in his Folletos. The essay is structured on three principal topics: journalism and freedom, the journalism as a profession, and the criticism of unethical journalists called by Lizardi "chabacanos".