NMSU: FronteraNorteSur

NMSU: FronteraNorteSur

'Frontera Norte Sur' provides NMSU and readers around the world with border news coverage

The drug violence in Mexico is seen around the world as an international epidemic. For New Mexico State University's Center for Latin American and Border Studies, the situation in Juarez adds a sense of urgency to the need for accurate and up-to-date news that only those living closest to the border can provide. Frontera NorteSur is an online publication sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies to provide news coverage and analysis of events taking place along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Frontera NorteSur, an online publication produced by NMSU's Center for Latin American and Border Studies, delivers important border-area news to readers around the state, nation and beyond.

What began in 1992 as a service that clipped Mexican newspapers and summarized them in English for U.S. readers, now also includes original stories highlighting important topics affecting the surrounding area. The unique stories in Frontera NorteSur cover issues including commerce, education, environment, health, human rights, immigration, politics and security with a balanced view, reporting from both sides of the border.
"This publication is an integral part of what we do at the center in terms of studying the border region, especially now when so much violence is taking place in Mexico. We need good, accurate information," said CLABS Interim Director Inigo Garcia-Bryce.
Frontera NorteSur employs one reporter who also acts as the publication's writer and editor. Kent Paterson, a veteran journalist who has covered the Borderlands, Mexico and Latin America for more than two decades, single-handedly writes and distributes news, with new reports posted weekly.
"NMSU is so close to the border issues occurring today. This publication works to provide the most relevant information not only to NMSU but to all of southern New Mexico and New Mexico as a whole," Paterson said. "With the crisis of the drug war and economic downturn, we work to fill in gaps and provide vital information people wouldn't get otherwise."
"Frontera NorteSur" has a circulation of about 2,300 readers. That readership spans internationally and includes those with education, government and media backgrounds. Paterson's stories have been picked up and quoted by numerous publications including the El Paso Times, USA Today and National Public Radio.
"Here at NMSU, faculty and students need basic data on what's going on in the border region," Garcia-Bryce said. "The fact that publications such as NPR and USA Today cite the publication and the news reaches people on an international level, tells us Frontera NorteSur is something of great importance."
With adequate funding, Frontera NorteSur hopes to employ additional staff, including students, to provide further reports to the public.
For more information on Frontera NorteSur or to subscribe to the publication visit http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/.
Written by Donyelle Kesler.