The year 2020 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Navajo Times newspaper. The first copyrighted edition of the Navajo Times was published on August 4, 1960, and the newsstand price was 10 cents.

From an official standpoint, the 60th birthday of the Navajo Times will not occur until Aug. 4 of next year but we intend to celebrate and acknowledge our 60 years of newspaper publishing starting Jan. 1st and all throughout 2020.

As a part of our celebration the Navajo Times will incorporate some new changes and upgrades in 2020. These changes are designed to make the Navajo Times newspaper and our website – www.navajotimes.com – more reader friendly and accessible.

Starting with the Jan. 9, 2020, issue, the Navajo Times will feature a new layout and design of the entire publication. We will have a new nameplate atop the front page and the inside pages will have a fresh look and appeal.

We will also have more use of the Navajo language and culture in our newspaper. In fact, we are still developing a Navajo Page but we need your help. It is our intent to publish at least 1 to 2 pages in Navajo with the overall goal of one day printing an entire 8-page section of the newspaper completely in the Navajo language.

However, we still need to establish legitimate partnerships with people, educators, schools, colleges and literacy projects that can provide quality educational and informative content for the Navajo Page. So if you or your school or programs are interested in such a project, please give me a call at 928-871-1130 and let’s start a conversation about what we are looking for and how we can utilize your knowledge and expertise.

The late Marilyn Dempsey was the last person who helped us with our Navajo Page and she did a wonderful job of providing quality Navajo word lessons and games, the alphabet, puzzles, cultural teachings and interesting stories.

Now, we want to partner with another person or persons, who would like to help us showcase the Navajo language and culture in the pages of the Navajo Times on a consistent basis just like Marilyn used to. It has been our experience that the benefits of publishing a Navajo Page are invaluable.

As the “Newspaper of the Navajo People” we feel it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to promote and preserve the Navajo language and culture. But, we need your help and understanding, so let’s talk soon and get the ball rolling.

As for our Navajo Times website, we are working on providing more updated content on a daily basis. We also want to provide all of our articles and photos on Thursday mornings when our newspaper is distributed. Our website content is free right now but eventually as we upgrade and add more new content, we will set up a pay wall where you will be charged a fee after a short trial, in order to access all of the website content.

We also will continue to promote our E-Edition where you can subscribe to the entire Navajo Times newspaper in a PDF format. There, you get the actual publication in its entirety. Right now, you can subscribe to our E-Edition for $75 for one year, $45 for six months, $25 for three months and $2 for a single issue. If you compare these prices to other publications in the region, our Ed-Edition subscription rates are a good bargain.

Another significant change that we will make in early 2020 is that the newsstand price of a single issue of the Navajo Times will increase from $1 to $1.50.

Starting with the Feb. 6, 2020 issue, the Navajo Times will cost $1.50 to purchase at your favorite newsstand outlet. The last time we raised the price of the Navajo Times was on Jan. 6, 2005 when we increased the newsstand price from 75 cents to $1. That was 15 years ago.

Just like back in 2005, the reason for increasing the price of the Navajo Times is strictly business in nature. We need to cover the overall operational costs of publishing the largest selling Native American owned newspaper in the whole world. The price of newsprint, ink, equipment, supplies, labor, postage, business and employee insurance and liability, and more, all continue to rise.

So far, we have been able to balance out our expenses and revenue so that we did not have to raise the price of the newspaper. We did increase our advertising rates in 2018 and that helped tremendously in raising more revenue to offset our business and operational expenses.

The Navajo Times Publishing Company Inc. is a for-profit corporation and we operate our business through our own revenue generation. We’ve been doing that for the past 20 years. We do not receive any funding from the Navajo Nation government and we operate as an independent business and newspaper.

We generate our operational revenue primarily through newspaper sales, advertising sales, advertising inserts and printing. In fact, NTPC Inc. is the only Native American owned and operated newspaper-publishing company in North America.

Basically, the Navajo Times is able to generate revenue because you buy our newspaper, you purchase advertising in our newspaper, and you allow us to print your special tabloid newsletter or advertising insert on our own printing presses. We thank you for your consideration, support and business.

In the last 10 years, over 1,500 newspapers and publishing companies across the United States have gone out of business. Thousands of journalists, press operators and other employees lost their jobs and livelihoods when these newspapers ceased to exist. More importantly, the people and readers lost an important voice and advocate for themselves, their families and their communities.

As we venture into 2020, and our 60th anniversary, I hope that you continue to support the Navajo Times and our corporation. We are making changes to our business with the intent of continuing to produce a quality newspaper for you.

We cannot control the economy or the declining newspaper industry. We do not make the news but rather we report the news. That is our job and our responsibility and that is something we here at the Navajo Times take great pride in.

While other newspapers continue to struggle and eventually disappear, with your continued support, the Navajo Times intends to be here for a long, long time.