ABOUT
The El Defensor Chieftain is a locally owned and operated community newspaper, dedicated to serving Socorro County and surrounding areas through the highest professional business and journalistic standards. EDC is published weekly on Thursdays, including holidays – and online at dchieftain.com.
Our office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. We are politically independent, and welcome community submissions from all points of view.
The El Defensor Chieftain, an award-winning newspaper, is a member of the Socorro Chamber of Commerce, the New Mexico Press Association, the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and the National Newspaper Association.
Our dedicated professional staff pours an enormous amount of creativity, passion and hard work into the creation of your community newspaper. But ultimately it is our advertisers that make the Chieftain and dchieftain.com possible. So, please tell them you saw them in the EDC!
Jessica Carranza Pino, El Defensor Chieftain Editor
From a long lineage of ancestry in Magdalena, New Mexico, Jessica attended the University of Arizona Design and Art Practices, and also worked as a Librarian, Photojournalist, Spanish Interpreter and Professional Photographer.
When she is not busy covering news, you can find her running in the mountains with her burro, making art or enjoying time with her family.
Ungelbah Dávila, El Defensor Chieftain Staff Writer
Born on Zuni Pueblo, Ungelbah Dávila spent her childhood in Catron County on family land in Mangas and Reserve. Dávila, whose clan is Áshįįhi and is Navajo through her mother, is an award-winning writer and photographer who obtained her BFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. She has lived in Valencia County for the past decade where she is a momma to a tiny human and several critters. When she isn’t writing for the Chieftain, she is writing and photographing for various magazines and clients, including New Mexico Magazine, Edible New Mexico, El Palacio, New Mexico Generations and more.
Regina Barnett, El Defensor Chieftain Staff Writer
John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain Columnist
Twenty-one years ago John Larson moved from Nashville, Tennessee to New Mexico where he began his journalism career with the Mountain Mail newspaper in Socorro. After that paper ceased publication in 2013, he jumped at the chance to cover Socorro and Magdalena news for El Defensor Chieftain. Besides his weekly observations in his column Lovin’ Life, over the past eight years at the Chieftain, John has won numerous awards for his local business, education and agriculture articles from the New Mexico Press Association.
Bobbi Chandler, Advertising Director Number 9 Media
Bobbi Chandler, a native of Oklahoma, began working at the News-Bulletin in 2014. She can help you with your advertising needs in the VCNB and special sections.
Denise Ortega, Customer Service Expert
Customer service representative Denise Ortega has been working with El Defensor Chieftain since November of 2018. Her duties also include helping you all with your classified and Legal needs.