Down in Mexico City, a major television news anchor survived an attack by a couple of guys on motorcycles.

This is the story:

One of Mexico's most prominent news anchors has survived an apparent assassination attempt near his home in the capital, in one of the most brazen attacks against a journalist the country has seen in recent decades.

Ciro Gómez Leyva, a news anchor for the national news network, Grupo Imagen, was driving a bulletproof SUV when the pillion rider on a motorcycle opened fire on him late on Thursday.

Gómez was unharmed, but the attack highlighted the dramatic escalation in violence against Mexican journalists under the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as Amlo.

Forty-two journalists were killed during the first three years of Amlo's term as president, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That compared to forty-five journalists killed in the entire six-year term of the last president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Gómez's own news report on the attempt, in Spanish, can be viewed at YouTube here.

What complicates this case is that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had just criticized the news anchor at his morning press conference.  AMLO has a daily meeting with journalists and a special segment called "the media's lies of the week," or his version of fake news.

We don't know if the guys on motorcycles were inspired by the president's words or something else.  We do know that 12 journalists were killed this year.  In this case, the famous news anchor was riding in an armored car, and it probably saved his life.

To his credit, President AMLO criticized the attack, and Mexico City officials dispatched police to investigate the crime.  Nevertheless, Mr. Gómez came very close to being #13 of journalists killed this year.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Screen shot from Imagen Noticias, via YouTube.