Mexican journalists face the very real threat of death by drug cartels, who do not wish to be reported on. This, coupled with a lack of faith in what increasingly appears to be a corrupt police force, has led one citizen of Tamaulipas–one of Mexico’s most violent states–to take up the mantle of the media and start reporting on all drug-related activity.

For three years now, clouded in a veil of anonymity, this man has been the administrator of the website Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas), reports the Independent.

In this time, while keeping his online identity hidden, he has received constant threats against him and his family and has seen the murder of his colleagues.

Tamaulipas, which borders Texas in the U.S., has in recent years become a kind of dead zone when it comes to actual reporting. In order to avoid danger from the drug cartels, the traditional media outlets have actively started to self-censor their stories.

Concerned citizens are now getting their drug news from Valor por Tamaulipas.

The website gets its info from a network of anonymous contributors who send up to 60 tips per day.

The news site publishes its stories about shootouts, abductions and cartel roadblocks in real time.

Since its launch in early 2012, the site has garnered more than 520,000 Facebook fans and can boast 116,000 followers on Twitter.

The anonymous administrator recently spoke to the Independent by employing an encrypted email: “The site has become a bastion of free speech, providing a voice for those who have no other means of making themselves heard.”

Violence directed against Mexican journalists is a serious problems these days, and for this reason alone, if the man behind Valor por Tamaulipas wants to keep the information flowing, he needs to maintain utter secrecy.

Related