Navajo Times facts for kids

The Navajo Times is a special newspaper written in English. It's made for the Navajo people, who are a group of Native Americans living in the southwestern United States. This newspaper helps Navajo people learn about important events happening in their communities and across the United States. Its main office is in Window Rock, Arizona. There is also another office in Shiprock, New Mexico.

The newspaper is owned by the Navajo Times Publishing Company, Inc. This company belongs to the Navajo people. The Navajo Tribal Council acts as its caretakers. Tommy Arviso Jr. is the leader of this company. The newspaper earns enough money from selling copies and from advertisements to cover its costs. It even makes a small profit. In 2015, one of the paper's goals was to become fully owned by individual Navajo people. This means regular Navajo citizens would own parts of the company.

Tommy Arviso says the Navajo Times does not print "sensational" stories. These are stories that try to shock people or focus on sad events just to sell more papers. He believes they should not use people's pain to increase sales.

How the Newspaper Started

The Navajo Times began as a simple newsletter in 1959. The Navajo Tribal Council started it. They wanted to share news with people living on Navajo land. They also wanted to reach Navajo students who were away at school. It became a full newspaper the next year, in 1960. At first, it came out once a month. Later, it started coming out every week.

In the early 1960s, the paper wrote about important community topics. These included health care, education, and ways to help the economy grow. You can find old copies of the paper from these years. They are kept safe in the Arizona Memory Project.

Becoming Independent

Tom Arviso became the editor of the paper in 1988. He said there were problems with how the paper was run. Because the Navajo government owned the paper, Navajo leaders felt they could decide what was printed. This is called censorship. It means someone in power can stop information from being shared.

In 2003, Mr. Arviso worked hard to make the paper more independent. He wanted it to be free to report the news without government control. The Tribal Council voted to create the Navajo Times Publishing Company. The vote was 66 to 1 in favor. This big vote helped the newspaper become more independent.

Awards and Recognition

The Navajo Times has won many awards for its great work.

In 2012, the newspaper staff won 13 awards. These awards came from the Arizona Press Club.

In 2015, the Navajo Times staff won 24 Native Media Awards. These awards were given by the Native American Journalists Association. They won for photography, sports stories, and writing. They also won an award for having the "Best Layout." This means their newspaper pages looked very good. The paper had changed its design that same year.

The Navajo Times won "Newspaper of the Year" for several years in a row. They won in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. These awards were from the Arizona Newspapers Association. They won in the group for newspapers that do not come out every day. The paper also won awards for its website and for its advertisements.

Images for kids

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  Navajo Times headquarters in Window Rock, Arizona.