Zeta (magazine)

In 1980, Blancornelas re surfaced with the weekly publication Zeta, which he co founded with Félix. Through the magazine, the pair continued their investigation into organized crime and corruption. In 1994, Zeta published an investigation on the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio; despite the conspiracy theories about the case, the magazine concluded that the shooting had been the work of a single troubled individual. Two guards from Hank Rhon's Agua Caliente Racetrack were later convicted of the murder. He also published a full page ad in every issue under Félix's "byline", asking Hank Rhon why Félix had been murdered. Blancornelas was nearly killed when the attackers opened fire on his car, wounding him in the abdomen and killing his driver and bodyguard, Luis Valero Elizalde, who died protecting him and managed to kill one of the shooters. Blancornelas suffered complications from the injury for the rest of his life. In the attack, Blancornelas' car was hit more than 180 times, but only four bullets penetrated the journalist's body. Valero, however, was hit 38 times. The nature of Blancornelas' work forced him to live under a "self imposed home arrest," only traveling to his workplace and home with multiple Special Forces bodyguards from the Mexican Army, who accompanied him everywhere. While previous attacks on journalists had received little coverage, Blancornelas' assassination attempt made it to the front page of most newspapers in Mexico, and was covered on television and radio. The attempt also fueled international attention, as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, and National Public Radio covered it extensively. Due to the public outcry, the Mexican authorities decided to report the attack to the Office of the General Prosecutor, which had greater resources than the state authorities. After Blancornelas recovered from his wounds, he returned to publishing for the Zeta magazine. The Blancornelas family erected a huge brick wall in their one story house to increase their security measures; outside the house, a squadron of military men guarded the family, while some others protected the Zeta offices. As of 1998, the top editors of the newspaper, along with Blancornelas' three sons, were under guard by the authorities at all times.

In 2004, Francisco Ortiz Franco—a Zeta cofounder and contributing editor who specialized in legal issues—began to write about drug trafficking. On June 22, 2004, Ortiz was shot three times at the wheel of his car by masked gunmen in a drive by shooting, in full view of his son and daughter (aged 9 and 11). Federal prosecutors later linked the murder to the Tijuana Cartel of the Arellano Félix family, with Ortiz's coverage of the organization as the probable motive.

Prior his death from cancer in 2006, Blancornelas, disheartened by the deaths of his co founders and beginning to doubt Zeta's ability to foster change, considered closing the magazine with his death. Editor Adela Navarro Bello and his son César René Blanco Villalón persuaded him to let the magazine continue, however, and succeeded him as the magazine's co publishers. As the magazine's new director, Navarro continued Blancornelas' tradition of high risk reporting on organized crime, stating that "Every time a journalist self censors, the whole society loses". She oversaw an investigation of Hank Rhon, whose guards had murdered Félix Miranda, The magazine also began to publish increasing coverage of corruption allegations against the National Action Party as the party continued to gain power. In January 2010, US law enforcement notified Navarro of death threats from the Tijuana Cartel, causing the Mexican government to assign her seven soldiers as bodyguards. and the 1999 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In 2000 he was named one of the Austria based International Press Institute's fifty World Press Freedom Heroes of the previous fifty years. Navarro also received the International Press Freedom Award for her work with the magazine in 2007. Zeta and Blancornelas are profiled in the Bernardo Ruiz documentary Reportero.