(Credit: Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas)

Mexican news outlets reportedly took money from Mexican presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto for “mentions,” the Guardian’s Roy Greenslade reported.

The Knight Center for Journalism in Americas reported that newspaper Reforma reported that Nieto “paid roughly $2.4 million for journalistic ‘mentions’ during his tenure as governor of the state of Mexico from 2005 to 2011.”

In a follow-up report, Greenslade reported that Mexican radio station Grupo Formula and radio group the National Chamber of the Radio and Television Industry defended Grupo Formula’s “receiving money” from Nieto because they money was for “sponsorship ads” that were “clearly identifiable to the audience and were completely transparent.”