This piece was updated Jan. 11:

Veteran journalists don't consider it journalism, rather consider it an epic insult to Mexican journalists who have lost their lives trying to truly cover the drug war.

Penn's interview happened b/c #ElChapo approved final copy. That's entertainment, not #journalism, says @ajcorchado https://t.co/gWIIiVEFCu

— Julie Lopez (@JLobo2011) January 11, 2016

Mexican actor Kate del Castillo's previous interactions with El Chapo (she tweeted at him, he sent her flowers, etc.) facilitated it.

It may have led to El Chapo's apprehension.

It ... is the Sean Penn interview of El Chapo Guzmán that everyone is talking about.

Rolling Stone magazine late Saturday night released an exclusive video interview of El Chapo Guzmán allegedly conducted by American celeb Sean Penn and produced by Mexican celeb Kate del Castillo just before the recent capture of the the Sinaloa Cartel drug kingpin. What the video best highlights is the fact that actors are not journalists; the questions Penn asked El Chapo via BBM Device, which El Chapo answered on video, are poorly crafted and prompt stock answers from El Chapo.

“I want to make clear that the content of this interview is exclusive for Miss Kate del Castillo and Mr. Sean Penn,” El Chapo says at the beginning of a nearly three-minute clip Rolling Stone released  one day after El Chapo was caught and taken into custody again.
Some of Penn’s questions:

“How did you get involved in the drug business?”
“Is it true what they say, that drugs destroy humanity and bring harm?”
“Do you think it’s true you are responsible for the high level of drug addiction, for the fact there are so many drugs in the world?”
“Are you prone to violence, do you try to avoid violence or do you only use it as a last resort?”
“The U.S. government thinks that the Mexican government doesn’t want to arrest you. What they want to do is kill you. What do you think?”

El Chapo’s answers to the softball questions are unrevealing. If the video can be said to generate anything interesting at all, it is in showing how ordinary it all seems.
That, and the fact that no one thought to move the recording farther from the rooster that crows loudly throughout.
But perhaps the crowing is apt. After all, the video interview is a boast on all parts. El Chapo’s boast is that he was still free (at that point), and that he got final say on what was released (Penn claims he didn't change anything). Rolling Stone’s boast is that the interview is the only one that has been conducted with El Chapo, outside of interrogation. Sean Penn’s and Kate del Castillo’s boast is that they variously conducted, secured and produced the interview. Incessant crowing.