Times welcomes reporters, photojournalist

WINDOW ROCK

The Navajo Times welcomes three full-time staff members to its editorial department.

Christopher Pineo, Arlyssa Becenti and Adron Gardner have been selected as reporters and photojournalist, respectively.

Becenti, a 2004 Window Rock High graduate, is originally from Fort Defiance, Ariz. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Arizona State University in Tempe.

“I’ve always wanted to work with the Navajo Times ever since I was small and I remember that,” Becenti recalled, adding that she once applied for an internship but was not selected. “I was even more determined after that to be a journalist.”

Becenti, who spent four years as a reporter for the Gallup Independent before joining the Times, said she practiced and worked to master her reporting skills under a close mentor and local journalist, whose beat was covering tribal politics.

“I want to contribute my knowledge of what I know about the Navajo people and government, and mold it into what Navajo Times sees fit,” she said, adding that she hopes to tell unique stories about any of the three branches of the Navajo Nation government.

“I want to write about stories that have never really been covered before,” she said. “When I started writing about Navajo government, I followed my mentor and found that people are really passionate about what’s going on in the government.

“So covering the government was something I knew I wanted to write about,” she added. “I want to teach readers about what’s going on, whats being passed, what’s being talked about and what is important to these leaders. Everyone should know especially our students.”

Pineo, who is from Burlington, Mass., 20 minutes outside of Boston, has been with the Navajo Times since September 2015, but became a permanent reporter in January.

He earned a bachelor’s in communications (minor in public relations) from Westfield State College, and a master’s in multimedia journalism from Emerson College in Boston.

Of his seven months on Navajo, Pineo said, “I like the experience of having the ability to make a difference in a community. It’s drastically different from where I was before because the paper was owned by a bishop and that has certain connotations in a newspaper.

“But my core values were set by the women in my life — my mom and sister — and I really appreciate working for and being under the leadership of a strong woman. It has been really inspiration and liberating for me,” he added.

Gardner, a 15-year photojournalist, came to the Navajo Nation in 2009 from the Organ County Register in Santa Ana, Calif. He worked for a local paper for a number of years before coming to the Times in early February.

“All photographers have a unique vision and we believe in that vision and we use that to do the best storytelling we can,” Gardner said. “That is what I would like to contribute to the Navajo Times.”

Gardner was born in Belen, N.M. and raised in Valencia County. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New Mexico State University in 2007.

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