Networks of Journalists to Overcome Fear: Emotional Communities in the Face of State Violence. The Case of Mexico

The M.I.E.D.O. report, published by Article 19 in March of 2016, gives an account of the aggression against and murders of journalists in Mexico during 2015. Through an analysis of that report we attempt to understand why and how fear can function not only as a policy for control, but also as a social force capable of guiding and reconfiguring new rules of emotional management among the groups targeted for domination. Using the sociocultural perspective of the emotions, we attempt to understand the transition from individual fear that ends in retreat, to a collective fear that organizes and develops into social actions. The analytical emphasis is placed on the emotional dimension contained in the notion of the work and emotional regulation of journalists, through the creation of networks to deal with the emotional discrepancies produced by fear experienced at the individual level, which has led to the formation of emotional communities with common goals: the protection and professionalization of their committed communicative work, to confront the violence to which they have been subjected in recent years in Mexico.