Mexican court backs reporter fired after Pena Nieto property scoop

Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui speaks with journalists outside MVS radio station in Mexico City March 16, 2015. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A court ruling issued on Tuesday may force a broadcaster to negotiate the reinstatement of a high-profile journalist fired last month after helping uncover a scandal involving President Enrique Pena Nieto's family. The Mexico City judge ordered an April 27 hearing that may determine whether Carmen Aristegui and her popular show return to the air. Late last year, Aristegui revealed that Pena Nieto's wife, Angelica Rivera, was in the process of acquiring a luxury house from a government contractor that won millions of dollars in state business. Aristegui was dismissed by MVS Radio after it accused her and her team of offering, without prior authorization, the broadcaster's name and funding for a new platform for investigative journalism called Mexicoleaks, Aristegui, who also hosts a show on CNN's Spanish-language network, argued that her dismissal was politically motivated. In Tuesday's ruling, the judge imposed an injunction against the broadcaster's guidelines for its news hosts. Aristegui argued those guidelines were not consistent with her contract. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; editing by John Stonestreet)