Combat Journalism and Rural Rebellion: Honor, Violence, and the Public Sphere in Mexico during La Reforma

The research agenda of this paper departs from newspaper reports surrounding the 1861 murder of a prominent liberal statesman, Melchor Ocampo, and an unrelated massacre perpetrated by the conservative bandit, Manuel Lozada, a month earlier in the rural town of San Pedro Lagunillas. An analysis of the linkages between these violent incidents will reveal important details about the connection between printed representations and actual practices of power during this historical moment. Whereas this avenue of investigation explores the geospatial workings and divisions of power in the public sphere, this paper also analyzes how the editors of important newspapers in Mexico City and Guadalajara, despite all of their differences, contested power on a shared discursive field in which they staked their individual honor. But more than just sounding the alarm on the printed page, journalists would in some cases lead the fight on the battlefield. They were fully engaged in what Pablo Piccato has called combat journalism. In sum, understanding the nature of individual honor as conveyed in the press in 1861 will help us understand not only the public sphere but also how such debates carried very real implications for the building of the Mexican nation prior to 1868.