The Importance of Cross Border Journalism: A Podcast with Kendal Blust and Murphy Woodhouse

With media coverage shrinking, this two-person news bureau based in Hermosillo, Sonora, fills a vital role informing U.S. audiences about Mexico.

By Todd Miller

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Politics

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March 16, 2023

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The Importance of Cross Border Journalism: A Podcast with Kendal Blust and Murphy Woodhouse

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Kendal Blust and Murphy Woodhouse have been reporting from Hermosillo, Sonora, for the Phoenix public radio station KJZZ since 2018. They are the only permanent full-time reporters based in the Mexican state of Sonora reporting for a U.S. audience, which let’s be frank, isn’t often aware of what’s happening south of the border.

In the following interview, Kendal and Murphy talk about what it’s been like to report in and on Mexico. They talk about stories they’ve covered, ranging from the joint resolution put forward by Republican congressmen in January to authorize U.S. military force against cartels in Mexico, to tightrope walkers in Sonora, to collaborations with reporters across the hemisphere to cover migrant journeys into the United States. They also talk about sewage problems in Guaymas, unequal vaccine distribution during the pandemic, and the very moving reporting they did after the Covid border closures were lifted.

“We saw extraordinary displays of binational love and longing,” says Murphy.

Throughout the conversation we come back to the theme, again and again, of the importance of cross-border journalism.

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Author

Todd Miller is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of The Border Chronicle. He is the author of four books that examine border militarization and its externalization, surveillance technology and industry, climate change, and the search for alternatives. His books include Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders (City Lights, 2021) Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World (Verso, 2019), Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security (City Lights, 2017), and Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security (City Lights, 2014).

Todd’s forthcoming book is a deep examination of water as a border issue in an age of climate-induced heat waves and drought. It will be published by Seven Stories Press in 2027.

Besides The Border Chronicle, articles by Todd have appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, San Francisco Chronicle, In These Times, Guernica, TomDispatch, and Al Jazeera English, among other places. He has also authored and co-authored reports on border surveillance, the border industrial complex, and climate change for the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, where he is a fellow.

Todd’s book Storming the Wall received the Izzy Award in 2018 for “path-breaking and in-depth reporting.” He also received first place in “Community immigration reporting” by the Arizona Press Club in 2013. Todd has a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and Journalism from Prescott College, where he is also an adjunct professor.

In his spare time, Todd likes to travel, read, philosophize, and hang out with his two kids—whether it be going to a dance recital or being a basketball coach.