Watching the documentary Reportero it's hard to compare the folks at Zeta with just about any media outlet in the US and not come away believing that the US media outlets are filled with vapid wusses who take for granted their First Amendment protection and that they ply their trade in a place where doing their job rarely leads to physical harm. To be fair it would be hard not to look like a wuss in comparison to the Zeta folks, but many of our outlets give the impression they'd be out of their league in a junior high journalism competition.

For those of you without the patience to watch the video here's the description from the documentary's webpage:  Reportero follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at Zeta, a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in one of the deadliest places in the world for members of the media. In Mexico, more than 50 journalists have been slain or have vanished since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón came to power and launched a government offensive against the country's powerful drug cartels and organized crime. As the drug war intensifies and the risks to journalists become greater, will the free press be silenced? 

Too bad we can't trade Fox, MSNBC, NYT, WaPo etc. for them. We'd come out way ahead.

Watch Reportero on PBS. See more from POV.