Conclusion
The media landscape in Mexico is vibrant and heterogeneous but also drags old inertias that hinder and constrain the democratic functions of the media in many ways. Media houses were historically deeply tied to political powers trough clientelism and collusion revolving around the discretionary allocation of political advertisement, a key source of income for the media. This continues to be a challenging issue for freedom of expression and access to information, since traditional media are eager to use news coverage as commodity in exchange for these benefits. Current legislation has a great challenge in this regard, and NGOs and citizens require to continue their checking of initiatives on these matters. There is still high concentration in the broadcast and telecommunications sectors in times of declining audiences. Newspapers continue to struggle to survive financially, and recent layoffs suggest a crisis in the sector. Independent digital media and widespread initiatives of collaborative work are filling the gap left by traditional media in conducting and publishing investigative and innovative work. Most of the award-winning work in watchdog journalism has been collaborative in nature. To counter their traditional poor working conditions and anti-press violence, journalists and activist have organised themselves in extraordinary ways for security, safety and professional development. However, with the radicalization of political discourses, an increasingly divided, politically polarized society and an environment plagued with politically motivated misinformation, the prospects of having a more plural and diverse media system and a responsible exercise of watchdog journalism are not optimistic.