Reporter’s Notebook | Hours behind the scenes: Editing with a reporter’s instinct
Donovan Quintero, Quentin Jodie, and I took the reins of the Navajo Times’s news-editorial department three months ago.
Enthusiastic about taking the wheel of the paper, we committed ourselves to work seven days a week because we had to be prepared for the unexpected.
Krista Allen
We worked alongside each other for more than a decade, so we found it easy to communicate. We sat in the editor’s office for countless hours, week after week, often late into the night, discussing ideas and making plans. We’re committed to creating a culture and environment where we can all do our best work.
We often say we’re oneness – equals – as editors because we have years of journalism experience. We’ve taken the seat of nearly every position in the news industry, including assistant/assigning/copy editor, sports editor, editor-in-chief, board member, graphic designer, reporter, photographer, and publisher, and we were in advertising for a short time.
I’m astonished every week at what the three of us can do. And I’m honored to be working with two of the world’s best journalists – one who is a U.S. Navy veteran, Quintero, who served in Desert Storm. My editors have deep experience, news judgment, an understanding of the world/tribal events, and superb people skills, and I greatly respect them. They are just the two to help ensure that editing retains its essential role at the paper.
One of the great privileges of working here is the opportunity to converse with Navajo Times history and build on it.
With our CEO/Publisher Olivia Benally’s full support early on, we started restructuring and working collaboratively with every department at the Times. Collaboration at the Times is a hallmark, and it’s not an overstatement to say that nearly everyone – from the press foreman and operators to the carriers – helps put the newspaper together every week.
One of our goals is to recruit candidates and give them the tools and experiences they need to help shape Navajo journalism in the future. We’re looking to find and support the next generation of Navajo reporters, photographers, and editors, which requires discipline, and empathy, among others.
Readers might have noticed several new bylines – such as Octavia Freeland, Jonah Graham, Holly James, Chael Moore, and Jalen Woody – in the paper over the last several weeks.
We are teaching them fundamentals, training them to handle the kind of work we perform, and developing them into Navajo Times journalists in hopes that one day they’ll take on roles at the paper and beyond. It’s also our responsibility.
We are teaching them the language of photography – the language of force. And to be a photographer and to call oneself a photographer, you have to do whatever it takes to get the shot, even though sometimes you’ll risk your life or invent an entirely new way to take it.
We also have seasoned photographers and writers/journalists: Delbert Damon, Geri Hongeva, Colleen Keane, Steven Law, and Santiago Ramos Jr. A science expert, Arnold Clifford, who lectures at universities across the country. And our own Sharon Chischilly and Amber Wauneka. We cannot thank them enough for helping us drive coverage across the Navajo Nation.
Covering the general election was a long two days for us. My fellow editors and I didn’t sleep for more than 35 hours after visiting chapter houses across the Nation. We ended our coverage after midnight at the Navajo Nation Fairground, where the Nygren/Montoya and Nez/Abeyta watch parties were happening. Quintero and I stayed at the newsroom overnight, typing up stories, editing photographs, and planning the layout because our deadline was only hours away that Wednesday morning.
As the paper’s top leadership transformed in early May, the editorial department did too. And 12 days from today (Dec. 29), we’ll see a young president and the first Diné woman elected vice president in our Nation’s top offices. Their elections mirrored and moved the meaningful stories of this year, and both individuals will shape the Nation’s role in the world and the future of Diné Bikéyah.
Thank you for buying the Navajo Times and supporting Navajo journalism.
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