Mexican president slams "hypocrisy" and "yellow journalism" of U.S. media outlets

MEXICO CITY, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday accused U.S. media outlets of "hypocrisy" and "yellow journalism" in their coverage of four American kidnap victims in north Mexico, two of whom were found dead.

"It is very striking that these unfortunate events happen and all the media in the United States handle the news in a sensationalist manner, not like when they murder Mexicans in the United States, (then) they are as quiet as mummies," the president said during his daily press conference.

At the press conference, Lopez Obrador received a call from the governor of northern Tamaulipas state, Americo Villarreal, who said the four Americans who disappeared on March 3 were located, though only two had survived.

Lopez Obrador noted that U.S. media failed to cover a violent incident a month ago in which the victims were two Mexican day laborers, one of whom was killed and the other injured by American farmers on the outskirts of the city of San Francisco.

"They hypocritically clutch their pearls," said Lopez Obrador, referring to the way the media cherrypicks which cases to spotlight.

The four Americans had reportedly driven across the border into north Mexico for medical tourism when their vehicle with U.S. license plates was fired on and then surrounded by armed men who carted them away in a pickup truck, according to local media citing reports from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).