Western Navajo Voice

The Tuba City Voice was published weekly in Tuba City, Arizona beginning in 1969 and changed to the Western Navajo Voice shortly after. An editorial in the July 18, 1969 issue said, “Because of many comments about the name of our Navajo community newspaper, the staff of the Tuba City Voice is thinking of changing the name. Many people feel that the name does not represent them because they don’t live in Tuba City. The staff of the Tuba City Voice after thinking about it have come to agree. The name they have thought of is the Western Navajo Voice.” In August of 1969, the paper bore the new title Western Navajo Voice on the masthead.

Tuba City, Tó Naneesdizí, is the Navajo Nation’s largest community and headquarters of the Western Navajo Agency. The August 15, 1969 issue of the paper stated, “The Tuba City Voice has a potential readership of upwards of 50,000 people who live on the western Navajo reservation.” Another editorial said, “We hope to keep our culture alive and carry it into our future generations.”

Featured stories included coverage of the Black Mesa Pipeline, Tuba City area Chapter meetings, opinions towards the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the crowning of a new Miss Western Navajo. A regular column, The Law and You, was also featured in each issue.

No editor or publisher information was printed in the pages of the newspaper. Editorials were attributed only to the Tuba City Voice, even when the title of the paper changed to Western Navajo Voice. Likewise, all correspondence was directed toward the Tuba City Voice. It is unknown when the paper stopped being published.