In 2014, I ended a rather strongly-worded report regarding the cover-up of a shameful local real estate scandal with the words “…it’s journalism’s job to tell you the truth.”

In my case, it runs deep. My grandfather was a journalist, author, and editor of some renown here in Denmark. After skipping a generation, his genes fell to my brother and me. 

I became aware in 2014 that, not only was there a cover-up of the scandal I wrote about, but that anything negative about the Lake Chapala community was not being reported either. That was because Sean Godfrey, editor of the original Guadalajara Reporter, told me that his job was to sell more newspapers, not fewer.

Doubly horrified, I expanded my view: journalism’s job is not only to tell you the truth, but to include however much is necessary for you to get an accurate sense of what’s going on and how it will affect you.

So, I continued writing investigative pieces. Among other articles, I wrote that Yolanda Martínez (hairdresser, Cruz Roja director, Lake Chapala Society board member) was a crook, who had stolen the building her salon was in. But after she used her considerable connections to try to get me deported, my family convinced me to stop writing investigative pieces.

Hiring other English-speaking reporters was not successful. The only other good reporter was Dale Hoyt Palfrey of the Guadalajara Reporter. She’s still the only real reporter Lakeside, but she’s mostly retired now. That leaves no one else except a few people with barely-discernable journalistic or editorial skills.

Many people don‘t realize that what most small-to-medium publications do to make up for limited staff is to rewrite other publications’ articles. That’s just how it’s done. They can’t exist otherwise, because they can’t be everywhere to report in person. That’s the model the Lake Chapala Reporter has evolved to use, and so have my other publications, the Puerto Vallarta Reporter and the Guadalajara Reporter – all for the same reason: to give expats the widest possible view, both locally and beyond.

You need to know whether the country you’re living in is becoming autocratic, what roles the military is taking on, whether the violence is coming closer to you, and whether your health care needs are going to be met. No one else is giving you that information in English in one place.

A few years ago, I stopped rewriting other publications’ articles to make them look original. I just tried to make them better. I combined articles for a broader view, added, combined, and cleaned up the photos, added videos, if available, shortened long-winded articles, corrected spelling, provided background information, looked up and added missing dates, names, and addresses, cleaned up grammar, usage, and punctuation, added hyperlinks, and stopped citing sources (unless important) because it took unnecessary time. To do more by myself would mean publishing less news.

Do I regret using other people’s work? I certainly think about it every day. I also thought about it whenever I bought a pirated DVD from the nice man in front of Super Lake. I couldn’t really justify that then. There was no purpose other than my own satisfaction. In this case, however, I’m not as certain that anyone is being short-changed, since people can’t buy the same product elsewhere, as they could with the DVDs. I don’t think any individual writers are being short-changed, since they are already being taken care of by their publications, and are not good enough (in my opinion) to stand on their own in order to make more money. And the publications are not good enough, either, providing only sporadic news in between religious celebrations, school activities, and incidental political events (which I do not cover). They also use each other’s articles and photos, incidentally. I could be wrong, but I’m not convinced that their revenue would increase on their own. The quality is just not there. So, I’m choosing to live with my misgivings to serve a bigger purpose: to provide the expat community with as much relevant news as I can find, for as long as I can.

Reading, selecting, and editing useful articles, publishing the three websites, and providing customer service takes me between three and four hours every day except Sundays. I use the same time on Sundays to manage the websites, the backups, and all the related technical falderal. I still don’t take vacations. This work is important to me, but since I’m 76 years old now, and I’m still not using any other staff, I need to pace myself.

What’s the plan for 2024? More of the same. The vision is still there: to provide as much information as necessary for you to get an accurate sense of what’s going on that can affect you, the good and the bad. The times are too precarious for you to live in the dark.

You can reach me at in**@*****************er.com with any comments and suggestions.

With that, I hope we all have a wonderful and Happy New Year, and that peace is restored in the world.

Lisa Jorgensen

Publisher and editor of Lake Chapala Reporter, Puerto Vallarta Reporter, and Guadalajara Reporter

Author of Moving to Mexico’s Lake Chapala (four editions) and The Prime of Miss Jane Austen