Sean Penn interviews El Chapo

‘Cartel’ Author Don Winslow
Responds To Sean Penn: “Call It
Anything You Want – Except Journalism”

Guzman was never called to answer the hard questions. That’s a shame, because these questions need answers.

I was hoping to hear Guzman explain why, after his first so-called ‘escape’ (I use single-quotes because the word ‘escape’ does not normally encompass the active complicity of one’s jailers and government) in 2001, he launched a campaign of conquest to take over rival cartels’ territories – a brutal war with a body count of over 100,000 lives.

In his article, Penn refers to Guzman’s “unguarded will to speak freely.” Well, I wish I had heard Guzman “speak freely” about the under-aged girls who were routinely brought to him in his luxurious prison ‘cell’ (as Francisco Goldman reported in his excellent New Yorker article, ‘El Chapo III – The Farce Awakens’); about the hit he ordered on rival cartel boss Rodolfo Carillo Fuentes that also killed Fuentes’ wife and launched yet another round of violence that killed thousands.

An entry-level journalist would have pushed Guzman on the many millions of dollars in bribes he has paid to co-opt police, judges and politicians, about his treaty with the sadistic and hideously violent Zetas when it was convenient to him. I would like to have heard about the people on his payroll who dissolved their victims’ bodies in acid, about the decapitations and mutilations, about the blood soaked bodies displayed in public places as intimidation and propaganda. I would like to have known, for instance, how Guzman feels about the 35 people (including 12 women) he had slaughtered because they were allegedly Zetas (this was when he was at war, not peace, with them) only to discover later that they were innocent. ...

Penn’s story was not a failure because people failed to understand it, as he claimed on 60 Minutes. It is a failure because he failed to understand who he was interviewing, the crimes his subject committed and the responsibility he had to ask real questions. Penn’s failure is further compounded by his 60 Minutes interview, which was as misguided and self-serving as the Rolling Stone article.

I applaud Sean Penn for his important work in New Orleans and Haiti, but I condemn what he did here.

'Cartel' Author Don Winslow Responds To Sean Penn: "Call It Anything You Want - Except Journalism”

 

This is outstanding.

 

The 60 Minutes interview with Penn was maddening.

He is quite the self-important tool.

 

Penn claims he got the interview because he isn't a traditional journalist. Traditional journalist says not so fast.

Why I turned down an interview with ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán

 

Perhaps, if Penn had a better sense of humor, he could do interviews for "La cebolla."

 

Damn it, Sean Penn.

 

THis is obviously wrong on many levels. But anyone can be a journalist who writes a blog and they get all the protections of the 1st Amendments's news gathering privileges, if there really is one.
The only privileges that I think really exists is the right to publish without governmental oversight, interference and prior restraint. Reporter/source should not be a recognized privilege as it pertains to criminal law violations. If someone wants to confess to raping little Debbie, call a priest if you want it quiet.

 

Can he cover Podunk East vs. Podunk West on Tuesday?

 

I'm watching the doc My Day with El Chapo - It's actually quite funny. del Castillo is both the antagonist and the victim in the story. The entire venture - including the doc - comes off more as a publicity stunt for del Castillo (and Penn) than anything else, she spends more time talking about the danger of the trip, the scrutiny she faced than anything of note from El Capo - not that there would have been anything there to begin with. I was half-surprised Billy Bush wasn't one of the "experts" interviewed (though Jillian Barberie and Don Francisco of El Sabado Grande- Fame are). Really weird. I'm really starting to sour on the entire narcotrafficking genre.

 

Mysteriously, the interview ended after El Chapo asked to use the bathroom.

 

Don't know who was bent over in there first....Penn or Kate..