Behind the Story: How The Navajo Times Is Covering COVID

The Navajo Nation has been hit hard by the pandemic. Access to information during this time “is a matter of life or death,” says Tom Arviso Jr., long-time publisher of the Navajo Times. The 150,000 people of the Navajo Nation live spread over three states crisscrossed by 18,000 miles of mostly unpaved roads. Cell service is unreliable and 40 percent have no internet access. For many on the reservation, the arrival of the weekly newspaper, often days after it is published, is their only way to keep up with life on their land. Established in 1959, the Navajo Times was the first Native newspaper to get its independence from the tribal government. It has a long-standing reputation of acting as a watchdog for its community. Perhaps more than any other newspaper, its dwindling circulation could leave many with very little knowledge of what occurs on their land. By embedding with Navajo journalists, this documentarian tells the stories of people who maintain the crucial, but fragile, informational links that hold together a culturally strong community spread over an enormous space with limited digital connectivity.