Download PDF - International Center for Journalists

Case Studies:: Independence
pushed for proved that the material
was contaminated, he said.)
During his time at Kompas, Surjadi
was accused of being a member of
environmental advocacy groups. He
said that was not true, but he did work
with those groups to investigate
cases. And sometimes when quoting
representatives of those groups, he
helped them state their case better.
“When I feel this is not a proper quote,
I say, ‘Not these words.’ I help to
formulate the words. The message is
the same, and they agree.”
Some journalists say that Surjadi is
more of an activist than a journalist.
He doesn’t think that’s true, but he
doesn’t hesitate to say that journalism
to him is a tool.
“The first dilemma I faced
was how to investigate
someone from the Zapatista
Movement for whom I felt a
certain sympathy,” he said.
“To do this story was to
collaborate more with the
police.”
-Isaín Mandujano
“I have to work professionally, but also
I have to make the Indonesian
environment better. That is my major
interest.”
Mandujano might have agreed with
that approach early in his career.
When he first became a journalist in
the mid-1990s, he was a militant first,
a journalist second. He worked for
publications aligned with the Zapatista
indigenous rights movement in his
native Chiapas region of Mexico. His
goal was not so much to inform the
public as to advance the rebels’
cause.
By 2001, Mandujano had changed. He
had gone to work for the independent
Chiapas magazine Sur Proceso,
though in his heart, he still strongly
supported the Zapatistas. That year,
his new commitment to “objective”
journalism made him an enemy of his
former allies.
One of the hooded, anonymous rebel
leaders had captured the public’s
attention that year during a highly
publicized march to the capital. She
was known as Comandante Esther.
The Mexican government’s espionage
machine sought to pull the hood off
Comandante Esther, discover her
identity and somehow discredit her.
Once the police knew who she was, it
was only a matter of time before the
information was leaked to the press:
name, hometown, profession. At Sur
Proceso, Mandujano was charged
with finding and interviewing
Comandante Esther.
Somewhat reluctantly, Mandujano
went into the mountains and found the
community where the rebel
commander led her other life as a
bilingual schoolteacher. He wasn’t
able to interview her, but he profiled
the world she lived in and interviewed
people who knew her.
“The first dilemma I faced was how to
investigate someone from the
Zapatista Movement for whom I felt a
certain sympathy,” he said. “To do this
73