Now That We Have Your Atención... Bringing A Legacy Name Back

By Natalie Taylor

After a two-year absence, the name of San Miguel de Allende’s renowned newspaper is back, in a new format and with new voices, but with the same dedication to present the stories of our community with objectivity, impartiality, honesty, diversity, and integrity.

Fifty years ago, a group of volunteers decided to create a publication that would provide local information to the residents of San Miguel de Allende, in both English and Spanish. It began in 1975 as a quasi-newsletter with stories about what was happening in town, and about residents who were doing something of importance on the cultural and artistic scene. It was welcomed enthusiastically, and the group of writers and editors soon created more stories, and other volunteers joined them, until it became a real newspaper, and a beacon for residents and visitors.

Atención was sold in several different locations in town and mailed to readers abroad. It became something readers looked forward to each week, a font of information about current local happenings, the history of San Miguel, and profiles of people significant to the community. The supplement, Qué Pasa, was most welcome because it listed every event taking place in town, long before such information could be accessed online.

Atención was the largest social enterprise of the nonprofit organization La Biblioteca Pública, contributing funds for its social and cultural programs for the children and young adults of San Miguel de Allende. Then, new federal laws were enacted, forcing the separation of the different branches of nonprofit organizations, causing a break between the Biblioteca and Atención. Each was now a separate entity, and this eventually led to the paper’s demise. On a sad date, June 29, 2023, Atención published its last issue, and the residents of San Miguel mourned the passing of a five-decade tradition.

But the need for a local paper was soon taken up again in a new guise. A group of writers, led by Camie Fenton, began publication of a monthly newspaper with the same objective: to inform and entertain the people of San Miguel. Insiders’ News was born on September 1, 2023, and I am proud to have been part of the writing staff ever since that first issue. We began publication with only 24 pages in black and white, and only just a few contributors writing about their areas of expertise. The publication grew over the next year to become an appreciated monthly journal, both in print and online. In that time, it changed to color print and expanded to 48 pages with contributions from more than 20 writers. With the support of advertisers, the paper is distributed free of cost to readers. Then came an opportunity for our fledgling newspaper—an offer to acquire the naming rights to the Atención and Qué Pasa and revive the historic identity in a new format. On the second anniversary of Insiders’ News, we are proud to launch Atención News, blending San Miguel’s proud journalistic past with its bright print and digital future.

Atención News will remain continue as a monthly publication distributed at no cost thanks to the support of local advertisers. The regular and guest contributors will carry on creating with diverse stories to entertain and inform the residents of San Miguel de Allende, both in print and in digital formats, reaching readers all over the world.

Atención News is committed to providing accurate, balanced, collaborative, constructive, inclusive and positive coverage about our community’s successes, striving together, the uniqueness of place, and people at this moment in time.

Atención’s archives will remain are part of the Biblioteca’s records and are available to anyone who wishes to browse through them. They are a treasure trove of information from the past 50 years and about cover the history of the town going back almost 500 years.

The management and staff of Atención News are grateful to the Board of Directors of La Biblioteca Pública for this great honor and are proud to play a role in keeping this legacy alive.

www.natalietaylor.org