Roberto Rock

Roberto Rock is a graduate of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Rock graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalistic Business Administration. In 1990 he received a scholarship from the Ford and Miguel Alemán foundations in Washington, D.C., where he participated in various journalistic projects at the offices of “The Baltimore Sun” in Washington DC. He worked at the newspaper El Universal between 1979 and 2013, a period in which he worked as a reporter, editor, deputy director, editorial director and vice president of that publishing house.

As a reporter he carried out journalistic coverage in the United States, Central America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He founded and directed the newspaper’s news agency and regional dailies in several Mexican states. During 2002 he directed the transformation of El Universal Grafico. Between November 2007 and December 2010, he published the weekly column Open Files in El Universal and other newspapers in the country. He has also been the author of the political columns “Politics and the Republic” (1989-1993) and “Counterpoint” (2002-2003).

He is vice president of the Impunity and Freedom of the Press commissions of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA). In June 2008 he began the construction of what is now Grupo la Silla Rota, which develops printed and digital products. In 2001 he was a member of the Oaxaca Group, promoter of the Law on Access to Public Information in Mexico. He is co-author of the books The Untouchables (Planeta, 2009), Violence and Media (Insyde, 2005), Political Representation and Decision Making (FIDAC, 2004), Communication and Transparency of State Powers (IOPC Fund, 2003), and Zócalo Rojo (Editorial Ocean, 1982).

Rock was an event speaker at the Inter-American Dialogue