Mexican radio journalist Atilano Román Tirado shot dead live on air

A MEXICAN radio host and activist has been shot dead live on air during a broadcast, shocking listeners.

Atilano Román Tirado, a local joualist, was hosting his Saturday moing program ‘Así es mi Tierra" (Such Is My Land) when two gunmen forced their way into the radio studio of Fiesta Mexicana.

Listeners of the program could hear a shot fired followed by a co-worker"s voice saying, "he killed him,” reported Latin America News Dispatch.

Police confirmed two men walked into the station and asked the receptionist where Tirado was. They then pushed into the studio, hitting another radio worker in the face with the butt of a pistol before opening fire.

Rampant crime ... violence is nothing new to Mexico which has seen numerous violent murders over the years including the recent disappearance of 43 students. Picture: AFP/ Yuri Cortez Source: AFP

Tirado was supporting the cause of families displaced by the construction of a dam and had been leading a drive by about 800 rural families to win compensation after their land was flooded by the dam.

An outspoken critic of the project, he had led protest marches and road blockades, during which activists had been arrested by the police. Much of his radio show was dedicated to the issue reported The Times.

The radio station"s director, Sergio Ontiveros said, "he was militant in his commentaries, he was critical, very critical”.

Tirado was also no stranger to violence and had received death threats along with three other leaders of the Displaced Persons of Picachos Movement, according to a post on the movement"s blog.

Though the movement had become less active in recent years, Tirado recently participated in protests after he accused state organisations of granting commercial fishing licenses intended for members of his organisation to outsiders.

Mario Lopez Valdez, the goveor of Sinaloa state, said Tirado"s murder "would not go unpunished” however a lack of security cameras at the studio will hinder the investigation.

Violence against members of the media is common in Mexico. According to the Committee to Protect Joualists, a New York based independent non-profit organisation, 75 joualists and media workers have been killed in Mexico since 1994, 93 per cent of them Mexican nationals.

The nonprofit"s 2014 Impunity Index ranks Mexico seventh of 14 countries where murders of joualists are most likely to go unpunished.

Mexico is also ranked 152nd out of 180 countries on the 2014 World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders.