Letters | Free press is now a reality

Free press on the Navajo Nation suffered in the late 1980s and lasted through the changeover of the Navajo government well into the next decade (“Navajo Times needs your help with gathering news,” publisher’s column by Tom Arviso Jr., Jan. 27, 2022).

Elected government officials sought to turn the people’s newspaper into a mouthpiece for their own persuasion.

The memorable moment on display in the strive for free press was at the 1997 Native American Journalist Association conference in Minneapolis. You made it clear that the Navajo Times is going to print the news despite Navajo officials demanding how stories are told.

The Navajo Times gained stability in the 1990s. The era to control and censor the news is well behind us.

Your tenure at the Navajo Times is the signature that staff turnovers and takeovers at the behest of government officials is over. Free press is now a reality on the Navajo Nation.

Declaring sovereignty as we do is having the ability in recognizing the First Amendment of the Constitution as it is reiterated in our very own Navajo Bill of Rights in the granting of a free press.

Thank you, Mr. Arviso, for the 30 years you have devoted to the Navajo Times, its success, achievements, growth and national standing.

To own two state-of-the-art Heidelberg presses puts the Navajo Nation at the very top in the newsprint world in the greater Southwest. In keeping up with today’s demands, the reach of news electronically keeps readers aware with global capability.

Many of us who have served in our elected posts may not have always agreed with the news media, or did not do enough to invigorate the right to publish and print, but censorship and preemptions no longer exist.

Farewell to you, and may your next endeavors be marked with continued success.

Ben Shelly
Thoreau, N.M.

Editor’s note: Ben Shelly served as 2007-11 vice president of the Navajo Nation and as 2011-15 president. His letter is in response to Tom Arviso Jr.’s column in which the CEO announced his retirement from the Navajo Times after 37 years.