The Mexico-based news site Lado B recently spoke with Craig Whitney and Alicia Fernández about La Nota Roja, a ten-episode documentary series that examines nearly three decades of femicides in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The conversation centers on how the podcast was researched and produced, the reporting approach taken on the ground, and the reasons the team structured the series around family testimony and long-term context.

According to the interview, the podcast traces the origins of the crisis to the early 1990s, when authorities first began systematically registering murders and disappearances of women in Ciudad Juárez. The series follows cases that became emblematic over time and situates them within broader social, economic, and institutional changes along the border. The reporting draws on public records, interviews with families, and conversations with journalists and specialists who have studied the phenomenon from both sides of the Mexico–United States border.

Whitney explained that the podcast was designed to avoid focusing on a single case. Instead, the production brings together multiple perspectives to convey how femicides developed as a persistent pattern rather than isolated events. He said the goal was to combine testimony with analysis so listeners could understand both the individual impact on families and the larger forces shaping the crisis. “We wanted to include the voices of victims and researchers to show not just what happened in individual cases but also why it happened and continues to unfold as it has,” Whitney said.

The interview also addresses the conditions under which the reporting took place. Lado B notes that during fieldwork in Ciudad Juárez, the production team encountered a volatile environment shaped by organized crime and insecurity. One episode referenced in the article describes a shooting near a municipal office while interviews were being conducted, an incident that underscored the risks journalists face when reporting on gender violence and impunity in the city.

Fernández discussed her role as a local journalist who has covered femicides in Ciudad Juárez for many years. She conducted interviews with families, officials, and colleagues, and emphasized that familiarity with the city and its history was essential to approaching the subject responsibly. Fernández explained that many families have lived with unanswered questions for years, and that documenting their experiences required careful listening and attention to context. “It was important to collect testimonies that show both the personal impact on families and the wider structural issues that have allowed these crimes to continue,” she said.

The Lado B article highlights that La Nota Roja situates individual cases within long-term patterns of impunity. The podcast connects early investigations in the 1990s to later developments, including the emergence of advocacy by victims’ families and legal efforts to recognize femicide as a distinct crime. By organizing the narrative across multiple episodes, the series examines how institutional responses evolved and where they repeatedly fell short.

Both Whitney and Fernández describe the podcast as an attempt to create a comprehensive record. The reporting incorporates voices from families alongside journalists, analysts, and investigators to show how violence against women in Ciudad Juárez is linked to economic inequality, labor conditions, corruption, and failures within the justice system. The interview notes that these dynamics, first widely visible in Juárez, later appeared in other regions of Mexico.

The article also explains that La Nota Roja is available in both Spanish and English and distributed on major podcast platforms. This bilingual release was intended to make the reporting accessible to audiences inside and outside Mexico. The structure of the series allows listeners to follow the chronology of events while also returning to recurring themes such as memory, accountability, and the search for justice.