I think you're misreading the concern. It's the difference between public knowledge and common knowledge.

The cartel in question would already know about this IT guy, they don't need the media to mention it because it's already public knowledge. But without the media mentioning, it wouldn't be common knowledge. The difference is important to criminals concerned with reputation. If the IT guy was public knowledge but not common knowledge, the cartel would almost certainly be interested in his assassination, to send a message that they're not to be crossed. But with the IT guy being common knowledge, the value of assassinating him skyrockets. Bringing the IT guy into common knowledge could encourage more members of the public to believe the cartel is weak enough to be betrayed. This is obviously good for the authorities, who want more people to betray cartels, but bad for the cartels who control people through fear. The remedy for the cartel is to devote even more manpower to tracking down the IT guy and killing him.

These sort of news articles are good for the general public, but dangerous for the individual IT guy.