“Baja (California) Media Analysis,” prepared by Scott Hanning and Jeffrey Werner, Emerson Strategic Communication Group, for (Playas de Rosarito) Mayor Hugo Torres; Emerson Communication Group: Charmiant Corrado, Scott Hanning, Rob Rykowski, Jeffrey Werner and Professor Gregory Payne; Emerson College, Boston, MA
Executive Summary: Through selective reporting, presenting information without context and insufficient analysis, U.S. media outlets have helped perpetuate the mistaken perception that Mexico, including all of Baja California, is a “drug war crisis zone” unsafe for visitors. The net result is the conflation of President Felipe Calderón’s campaign against the drug cartels with tourism in the minds of millions of ordinary Americans, who have chosen to travel elsewhere or stay home. Media coverage of the drug war crisis has thus spawned a second, equally urgent one: Rosarito Beach’s economy, like those of other areas almost entirely dependent on American tourism, has suffered a devastating revenue decline of more than 75%.
Executive Summary: Through selective reporting, presenting information without context and insufficient analysis, U.S. media outlets have helped perpetuate the mistaken perception that Mexico, including all of Baja California, is a “drug war crisis zone” unsafe for visitors. The net result is the conflation of President Felipe Calderón’s campaign against the drug cartels with tourism in the minds of millions of ordinary Americans, who have chosen to travel elsewhere or stay home. Media coverage of the drug war crisis has thus spawned a second, equally urgent one: Rosarito Beach’s economy, like those of other areas almost entirely dependent on American tourism, has suffered a devastating revenue decline of more than 75%.
President Calderon began his tour with an event in the Hotel Hacienda Tres Rios located within Playa del Carmen. Later in the week, Ms. Margarita Calderon was in Cancun attending an event in the Ritz Carlton while the president was in the water park Xcaret, participating in the world day of ecology
