For years, the largest Spanish-language television conglomerate maintained a media manipulation machine to orchestrate campaigns of hate and lies. There was silence, out of fear or complicity, according to analysts.
They called it "the Dovecote" - because of the location of its offices under the main antenna of the Televisa television station, in the heart of Mexico City .
From there, under the direction of Javier Tejado, until recently vice president of Televisa's Information Office, campaigns of lies, hate, and misinformation have been waged for years. A scandal dubbed "Televisa Leaks" was revealed thanks to the revelations of Germán Gómez, who worked at the Palomar station for seven years.
According to initial documents analyzed by the investigative team of well-known Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui , who runs a news website, the team orchestrating smear campaigns for Televisa vilified competitors, but also provided services to others to attack rivals or promote related figures.
Among the victims were politicians, a federal judge whose rulings irked the government, and whose son had a sexual abuse scandal fabricated; journalists, like Aristegui herself when she was investigating a money laundering accusation against Televisa; and powerful businessmen, like Miguel Alemán, whose airline Interjet was slandered as "unpunctual and unsafe" in a commercial dispute, until it went bankrupt in 2020.
Despite its scope—a total of five terabytes of chats, videos, audio recordings, and images—the revelation about the "dirty war" waged by the television station was met with deafening silence across most of Mexico 's media landscape . Only a few independent media outlets and websites have devoted a few articles to the Televisa Leaks.
Analysts consulted by DW attribute this to a historical complicity between the media and political elite and to the fear instilled by a company that for decades made and unmade political, journalistic, and artistic careers.
"No one in the Mexican elite is blameless; they all engage in espionage and falsification," said Professor Pablo Arredondo, a communications specialist at the Jesuit University of Guadalajara (ITESO), in an interview with DW.
Arredondo, who holds a postgraduate degree in International Development Education from Stanford University in California, USA, recalls the historical background, as Mexico has a "long tradition of a press that lends itself to falsifying information, blackmailing public figures, and putting private interests first." As an example, he mentions the media campaign against President Gustavo A. Madero's democratic reforms at the beginning of the 20th century.
However, Arredondo draws attention to Televisa's sophistication: "This level of formality is surprising, as is the fact that they would build an apparatus specifically dedicated to disinformation."
"Televisa Leaks should have been a national and regional scandal, but it wasn't because there's a network of power relations that conceal these acts," said Leopoldo Maldonado, regional director of the organization Article 19 Mexico and Central America.
Congress should have created a commission of inquiry, says the free speech advocate, "but it hasn't."
"President Claudia Sheinbaum also turned a deaf ear, saying in her daily press conference that those involved must answer personally," Maldonado emphasized.
The president thus avoided addressing a campaign allegedly promoted through the television station by the presidential legal advisor, Arturo Zaldívar, who, according to the published videos, used the services of Palomar to become President of the Supreme Court and smear his opponents.
Not even the victims have raised their voices, something that, according to Maldonado, is due to their desire to avoid problems with the television network: "There's a lot of fear, and that speaks to the power Televisa has."
Both analysts agree on the need to reform and regulate the media system in Mexico.
"Televisa Leaks should have been a national and regional scandal, but it wasn't because there's a network of power relations that conceal these acts," said Leopoldo Maldonado, regional director of the organization Article 19 Mexico and Central America.
Congress should have created a commission of inquiry, says the free speech advocate, "but it hasn't."
"President Claudia Sheinbaum also turned a deaf ear, saying in her daily press conference that those involved must answer personally," Maldonado emphasized.
The president thus avoided addressing a campaign allegedly promoted through the television station by the presidential legal advisor, Arturo Zaldívar, who, according to the published videos, used the services of Palomar to become President of the Supreme Court and smear his opponents.
Not even the victims have raised their voices, something that, according to Maldonado, is due to their desire to avoid problems with the television network: "There's a lot of fear, and that speaks to the power Televisa has."
Both analysts agree on the need to reform and regulate the media system in Mexico.
"A code of ethics and stricter regulations from the state are needed," Arredondo demands, evoking laws like those currently being discussed in Brazil. Meanwhile, the judicial authorities of the South American country have put a stop to disinformation campaigns by Elon Musk and the far right via his X network.
"Unfortunately, in Mexico the media has historically opposed these types of regulations," says the academic.
Maldonado criticizes the political class for negligence. "The media conglomerates assert their freedom of expression, but it is not absolute because the audience also has the right to truthful and timely information, as established in the current broadcasting law and the Constitution."
Since Televisa holds a concession over a public asset—the radio spectrum—it would theoretically be possible to cancel this permit. But only in theory, warns Maldonado: "In practice, there are no clear mechanisms of enforcement."
For the journalists' rights defender, the reference is Europe, where there is "extensive legislation on the minimum requirements for licensed media." They cannot cross certain boundaries related to the rights of children and vulnerable groups, or hate speech.
But Mexico is still far from implementing anything similar, both experts agree. Arredondo sees it as "difficult in a political environment as polarized as the current one." He is referring to Sheinbaum's recent and controversial proposal for a communications law, which has been widely criticized for concentrating power in a single agency that would have censorship powers.
This is especially delicate in a political context of "strong authoritarian impulses and narrative control" by the Executive Branch, Maldonado admits. According to the director of Article 19, it is a major challenge to prevent these impulses from growing, and to ensure that the necessary regulations do not allow the State to censor legitimate content.
The balance between the necessary fight against hate speech and avoiding the shift toward a censorship state seems to be a difficult puzzle to solve in Mexico for now.
https://aristeguinoticias.com/investigaciones-especiales/
www.dw.com
They called it "the Dovecote" - because of the location of its offices under the main antenna of the Televisa television station, in the heart of Mexico City .
From there, under the direction of Javier Tejado, until recently vice president of Televisa's Information Office, campaigns of lies, hate, and misinformation have been waged for years. A scandal dubbed "Televisa Leaks" was revealed thanks to the revelations of Germán Gómez, who worked at the Palomar station for seven years.
According to initial documents analyzed by the investigative team of well-known Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui , who runs a news website, the team orchestrating smear campaigns for Televisa vilified competitors, but also provided services to others to attack rivals or promote related figures.
Among the victims were politicians, a federal judge whose rulings irked the government, and whose son had a sexual abuse scandal fabricated; journalists, like Aristegui herself when she was investigating a money laundering accusation against Televisa; and powerful businessmen, like Miguel Alemán, whose airline Interjet was slandered as "unpunctual and unsafe" in a commercial dispute, until it went bankrupt in 2020.
A network of cover-up power
Despite its scope—a total of five terabytes of chats, videos, audio recordings, and images—the revelation about the "dirty war" waged by the television station was met with deafening silence across most of Mexico 's media landscape . Only a few independent media outlets and websites have devoted a few articles to the Televisa Leaks.
Analysts consulted by DW attribute this to a historical complicity between the media and political elite and to the fear instilled by a company that for decades made and unmade political, journalistic, and artistic careers.
"No one in the Mexican elite is blameless; they all engage in espionage and falsification," said Professor Pablo Arredondo, a communications specialist at the Jesuit University of Guadalajara (ITESO), in an interview with DW.
Arredondo, who holds a postgraduate degree in International Development Education from Stanford University in California, USA, recalls the historical background, as Mexico has a "long tradition of a press that lends itself to falsifying information, blackmailing public figures, and putting private interests first." As an example, he mentions the media campaign against President Gustavo A. Madero's democratic reforms at the beginning of the 20th century.
However, Arredondo draws attention to Televisa's sophistication: "This level of formality is surprising, as is the fact that they would build an apparatus specifically dedicated to disinformation."
Fear and complicity hinder investigations
"Televisa Leaks should have been a national and regional scandal, but it wasn't because there's a network of power relations that conceal these acts," said Leopoldo Maldonado, regional director of the organization Article 19 Mexico and Central America.
Congress should have created a commission of inquiry, says the free speech advocate, "but it hasn't."
"President Claudia Sheinbaum also turned a deaf ear, saying in her daily press conference that those involved must answer personally," Maldonado emphasized.
The president thus avoided addressing a campaign allegedly promoted through the television station by the presidential legal advisor, Arturo Zaldívar, who, according to the published videos, used the services of Palomar to become President of the Supreme Court and smear his opponents.
Not even the victims have raised their voices, something that, according to Maldonado, is due to their desire to avoid problems with the television network: "There's a lot of fear, and that speaks to the power Televisa has."
Both analysts agree on the need to reform and regulate the media system in Mexico.
Fear and complicity hinder investigations
"Televisa Leaks should have been a national and regional scandal, but it wasn't because there's a network of power relations that conceal these acts," said Leopoldo Maldonado, regional director of the organization Article 19 Mexico and Central America.
Congress should have created a commission of inquiry, says the free speech advocate, "but it hasn't."
"President Claudia Sheinbaum also turned a deaf ear, saying in her daily press conference that those involved must answer personally," Maldonado emphasized.
The president thus avoided addressing a campaign allegedly promoted through the television station by the presidential legal advisor, Arturo Zaldívar, who, according to the published videos, used the services of Palomar to become President of the Supreme Court and smear his opponents.
Not even the victims have raised their voices, something that, according to Maldonado, is due to their desire to avoid problems with the television network: "There's a lot of fear, and that speaks to the power Televisa has."
Both analysts agree on the need to reform and regulate the media system in Mexico.
Europe and Brazil as examples
"A code of ethics and stricter regulations from the state are needed," Arredondo demands, evoking laws like those currently being discussed in Brazil. Meanwhile, the judicial authorities of the South American country have put a stop to disinformation campaigns by Elon Musk and the far right via his X network.
"Unfortunately, in Mexico the media has historically opposed these types of regulations," says the academic.
Maldonado criticizes the political class for negligence. "The media conglomerates assert their freedom of expression, but it is not absolute because the audience also has the right to truthful and timely information, as established in the current broadcasting law and the Constitution."
Since Televisa holds a concession over a public asset—the radio spectrum—it would theoretically be possible to cancel this permit. But only in theory, warns Maldonado: "In practice, there are no clear mechanisms of enforcement."
For the journalists' rights defender, the reference is Europe, where there is "extensive legislation on the minimum requirements for licensed media." They cannot cross certain boundaries related to the rights of children and vulnerable groups, or hate speech.
But Mexico is still far from implementing anything similar, both experts agree. Arredondo sees it as "difficult in a political environment as polarized as the current one." He is referring to Sheinbaum's recent and controversial proposal for a communications law, which has been widely criticized for concentrating power in a single agency that would have censorship powers.
This is especially delicate in a political context of "strong authoritarian impulses and narrative control" by the Executive Branch, Maldonado admits. According to the director of Article 19, it is a major challenge to prevent these impulses from growing, and to ensure that the necessary regulations do not allow the State to censor legitimate content.
The balance between the necessary fight against hate speech and avoiding the shift toward a censorship state seems to be a difficult puzzle to solve in Mexico for now.
https://aristeguinoticias.com/investigaciones-especiales/
Televisa Leaks: el escándalo que no fue noticia en México
Durante años, el mayor conglomerado televisivo de habla hispana mantuvo una maquinaria de manipulación mediática para orquestar campañas de odio y mentiras. Hubo silencio, por miedo o complicidad, según analistas.
www.dw.com