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Boston, July 26, 2012: Mexico has continued to have a sharply negative image, mostly centered around drug- and gang-related violence, over the past year despite positives like a visit from the Pope in March and the presence of the G20 meeting in June, says research institute Media Tenor International.

“Mexico isn´t particularly visible in international TV coverage on an ongoing basis,” says Racheline Maltese, a researcher at Media Tenor. “But when it is visible, the news is largely negative. The Pope´s visit and the G20 helped produce a more positive trend in coverage, but even those topics gave the media another excuse to talk about crime and violence and the country is still viewed very negatively.”

Despite being portrayed as among the economic powerhouses of the world during the G20 meeting, international TV coverage does not portray the nation as a place businesses would want to invest. “From watching the news, any company would worry about doing business in Mexico due to corruption, violence and kidnappings. The costs and risks seem very high, with limited coverage on other issues to provide a broader picture,” says Maltese.

Media coverage including quoted statements from financial analysts was essentially neutral on Mexico, Media Tenor found. “This is promising,” Maltese notes, “but the coverage volume was extremely low – less than 1% of the quoted analyst statements focusing on the Americas. Mexico needs more visibility from financial analysts to counteract the impression created by TV news.”

While the recent elections in Mexico also received some TV visibility, it´s topics like sports, human interest stories, tourism, and NGO activity in the country that provide additional visibility. “The picture of Mexico is one of extremes for media audiences: violence or heartwarming tales. But the day to day life of businesses and people in the nation, or what is being done to address the crime issue, is largely invisible,” Maltese added.

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