Fifteen decades of delivering the local news

As we are getting ready to celebrate 157 years here at El Defensor Chieftain, I want to take this opportunity to thank our local communities for supporting us for more than a century.

Though some of us have only been at the paper for a short time, the legacy and the strength of those who came before us give us the drive to continue each day.

Our world of journalism has changed a lot over the years, adapting to the ever-changing environment as technology has increased. These developments have given us the opportunity to grow, and to find new and creative ways to share the news with our community and beyond.

With the many benefits that technology brings, it also presents its own set of challenges. Being part of the bigger Albuquerque Publishing Company and having stories from reporters located around the state on our website at times can make it feel less like a “small town paper” than it once used to.

While that may be true, we are grateful to be able to have the resources to share so much more with our audience than the small staff at El Defensor Chieftain would be able to all on our own while focusing on the 60 plus mile radius we cover around Socorro.

Many years ago, we went from printing a paper twice a week to once, and many were worried that we were on the brink of closure, the products would be worse, or things would be less relevant. But it’s just the opposite.

Instead of having a lot of what we call “filler stories” from other sources, nearly all of what we print in our newspaper is written by someone at our Socorro office. We still throw a regional or state-wide story in the paper occasionally, but we make sure it is relevant to our audience and beneficial to the community.

As we head into this next era, here is my thoughtful request to those of you living in our coverage area: take the time to get to know us. Learn our names and what beats we cover. That way, when you read an article and see who wrote it, you can put a face to the name and go, “Hey, I know them!” Or when you have a topic of interest or a news tip, you know the perfect person to send it to.

So, let me take this opportunity to introduce the team at El Defensor Chieftain:

Denise Ortega has lived in the Socorro community almost her entire life, except for the years she went to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She celebrated her sixth anniversary at the newspaper in November. She handles circulation, classified advertising, obituaries and patiently helps our readers with their accounts each day and a whole lot more. She is my right-hand lady and teaches me new things every day.

Many of you know Stephanie McFadden. She started in December of 2018 as El Defensor Chieftain’s advertising representative. She stepped down from her role for health reasons, but I’m happy to say she is back at the newspaper as our advertising representative, once again. Stephanie’s a local girl who lives in the local community too. We enjoy having her on the staff to help us navigate the local waters.

Russell Huffman is vested in the local community and is our go-to guy for covering all high school sports in Socorro County. Russell considers New Mexico home and is well-versed in community newspapers as well as having an eye for news. He’s never one to pass up a good story or an opportunity to take an award-winning photograph … or good concession stand food!

Jessica Carranza Pino celebrated her first-year anniversary at El Defensor Chieftain this past year, too. She lives in the Village of Magdalena and perhaps has the broadest beat of all of us, covering all the things education and agriculture related in this diverse region, crime and courts and just about anything we throw her way.

And I’m the Iowa transplant who moved here to the crazy-hot southwest to cover the Socorro County community back in the fall of 2018. I’ve enjoyed every minute covering all the nuances as well as keeping your community newspaper rolling during the good times and bad.

As you read this column, know it is the last time that my name will grace the pages of El Defensor Chieftain. I am retiring on Friday, Dec. 20, after 46 years in the newspaper business. I’m the newspaper junkie who has covered the warts and triumphs of our readers … and I have enjoyed every minute of my career.

Even though times are crazy, and a lot of unknowns lay ahead of us. Trust me, there is still a terrific group of El Defensor Chieftain journalists right here in your community ready to work for another 157 or so years. Plus they’ll fight for you to keep your community newspaper going in the years and decades ahead.