• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 3, 2011

The epic battle between drug cartels and the Mexican government has assumed the proportions of a civil war, leaving more than 40,000 dead in the last five years. And like many other armed conflicts, journalism is one of the casualties, as reporters have been cowed into submission by the very real threat of reprisals by drug gangs for unfavorable reporting, which have left 66 journalists dead since 2006. But there is still one source of information available to regular Mexicans, provided they have an Internet connection: social media, which offers the key advantage of anonymity.

One of the most popular sites is El Blog del Narco or "The Drug Blog," a site maintained by two anonymous posters who say they are "not for or against any crime organization," according to the Miami Herald, which reports that U.S. counternarcotics officials and drug war analysts regularly consult the blog for information unavailable elsewhere. Before visiting the site readers should be warned that it contains extremely graphic images of drug-related murders; today, for example, the most recent blog posts contain photos showing a dead, naked body hanging from a highway overpass; a bullet-riddled corpse behind the wheel of a car; and the dismembered head and hands of a murder victim left on a sidewalk.

Some of the other popular blogs are Narco Tijuana, Narcotrafico en Mexico and Narcoguerra. While most crimes associated with the Mexican drug war take place in northern states along the U.S. border where smuggling is concentrated, the scope of some the blogs is national, including both official press releases and anonymous tips from federal authorities in Mexico City, and local authorities around the country.

Perhaps most important, the blogs publish stories based on anonymous tips uncovering state and local governments that have been infiltrated by drug trafficking organizations -- the only real coverage of official corruption, which is one of the main hindrances to the drug war. Anonymous tips can be sent to the Blog del Narco hotmail account, which guarantees "100% anonymity."

The blogs are now popular enough to carry advertising from various sources. On El Blog del Narco the ads range from reputable (Progressive insurance, eBay, and vocational schools) to somewhat racy (lingerie) to fairly shady (guaranteed schemes to get a U.S. green card).