Trashy journalism: National Enquirer has nothing on Mexico

Good old-fashioned sensationalism - inside the plot to kill Barack!!!!


Mexico's version of the Page 6 girl.


The "back cover" which is always lewdly displayed as the front cover on the news stands.

My response to Mexico's trash newspapers is 3 parts horror and 1 part guilty pleasure. The photos are actually vomit-inducing, the content is sensationalist and morbid, but I have to give them credit - they effectively pander to our basest instincts and they put the worst of American publications to shame.
Mexico is home to a dizzying number of publications. There's Reforma, the equivalent of the New York Times, el Universal and other standard newspapers that largely hold true to international standards of journalism - objective, not too many graphic images, balanced topics. But the newspapers hawked at the small stands and in the metro stations, the newspapers read while getting your shoes shined or waiting for customers to show up at your taco stands are something else. The standard cover images make the debate over how much to show of the Iraq war almost comical. The images rotate between particularly horrible car accidents, Narcotraffickers' beheadings or torture and gun shot victims who always seem to be bleeding out of their eyes. I was kind on you folks and didn't choose one of the more gory pics. Also de rigueur is the skanky girl in a thong. The overall coverage breakdown is as follows: News 20%, Soccer 60%, Other sports 10%, Almost nude girl 10%).My careful anthropological observation of Mexican men "reading" on the metro indicates that after the in-depth coverage of the soccer play-offs, skanky girl is by far the most popular features.

Into the depths of the metro

The Mexico City metro system is unlike anything else in the city - it is logical, orderly, user-friendly and largely reliable. There are the occasional breakdowns causing people to be trapped in the tunnels for minutes to hours or preventing your train from leaving, but I've only personally been delayed once.

This is Mexico City however, I doubt there is anywhere you could go that you could overlook that fact. A hallmark of the metro are young guys and girls with stereo-equipped backpacks blasting music to promote whatever pirate CD they're hawking - anything from cumbia to musica romantica to the Doors or the Beatles.



One of the odd things about the metro - to my eye - are the stores in the stations. Without fail, in every station, there is a Domino's Pizza and an alternative nutrition store. I particularly enjoy reading the advertisements on the nutrition stores, such as this one above. Offering include: Nopalinaza (Cactus/Linseed) to combat obesity, gastritis and colon problems, "Hepanat", effective in solving liver problems or bad breath, some sort of soy product that helps with embarassment, bad moods and sadness (not to mention ovary pain), creatine for muscle development, vitamins for kids and, the staple of every nutrition store and, I suspect, their bread and butter - "X-tra Virile" (100% natural) which helps with, well you can imagine.



I shouldn't laugh. I know that having the polis stand on boxes makes perfect sense surveillance-wise. But it does make me laugh, just like the polis on segways up and down Reforma.