Diana Fuentes Birthday: Sept. 27. Hometown: Born in Corpus Christi; grew up in Laredo. Married/ Children: married to Ray Gomez, who also is a journalist; no kids of our own, but nine wonderful nieces and nephews. Self-portrait: I’m short, chubby and have curly hair. I love people! I’m an incurable optimist with a cynical streak and survivalist leanings. Socially liberal, fiscally conservative. I can’t hold a grudge no matter how mad I get, and I’m loyal to a fault. I work too much, and I need a clone of me. What’s so special about Texas: We have a rich, multicultural history with great people, great food and just about every kind of environment available. You know how people will sometimes ask you, “What are you?” My first answer is “I’m a second-generation Texan.” Yes, I’m a proud citizen of the United States, and I’m very proud of my Mexican heritage, but I’m a Texan first. Best advice I could give to a midcareer journalist: Keep the faith! We need you. Do everything you can in your position to maintain our credibility as journalists: Be accurate, fair and balanced. Take time to learn something new and to brush up on long-held skills. Behind my back, employees say: She’s so busy; I wish she had more time for me. Proudest moment on the job: Being named editor of Laredo Morning Times, my hometown paper. Funniest moment on the job: When Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was shot in Tijuana, my husband and I were living and working in Austin. He was at work, and I was at home. When I saw the alert on Univision, I called my state editor and booked the next flight to California. These were pre-cell phone days. My husband wasn’t at his TV station; he was out in the field and couldn’t be reached right then. But my plane was leaving, so I quickly wrote a message and taped it to the TV: “Honey, I’ve gone to Tijuana, and I’ll see you when I see you.” Good thing he’s a journalist, too. Who else would understand?

Warren Watson teaches journalism at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. In his 35-year career, he worked for newspapers large and small, including the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, where he was assistant sports editor and graphics editor/art director from 1984-88. His is a past co-chair of The American Editor Committee. Reach him via e-mail at wwatson@bsu.edu.

FOR DIANA FUENTES, EDITOR of the Laredo (Texas) Morning Times, multitasking is a way of life. She says that is the rule of the road at a typical American small daily.

With fewer resources, everyone needs to be able to handle multiple jobs in a quick, but still thorough and accurate manner, she says of her 17,000 daily circulation newspaper, which is part of the Hearst group.

Fuentes actually works in the shadow of a former employer, the San Antonio Express-News. She sees many advantages for synergy. “I was there for 10 years, and she's a fellow Hearst paper, so we work well together.”

Fuentes became editor of the Laredo Morning Times in May 2004. A second-generation Texan whose first language was Spanish, Fuentes grew up in Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border. She was actively involved with her high school newspaper and later became editor of the student paper at Laredo Junior College. Her professional career in journalism began on the copy desk at the late Laredo News in 1977.

She was hired at the Laredo Morning Times in 1979 as a police reporter, later becoming news editor and city editor before leaving in 1987 to join the staff of state Sen. Judith Zaffirini. She returned to journalism in 1988, working for the San Antonio Light as a police and courts reporter. A year later, she was hired by the San Antonio Express-News, where she started as a general assignment reporter. She also served a stint on the Express-News editorial board, the first woman and first minority to have a seat on the board.

Later, Fuentes was named Austin bureau chief, primarily covering the Legislature and the governor. She also reported on major events such as Pope John Paul II's visit to Mexico in 1990, the deadly battle between the Branch Davidian religious sect and federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents in Waco, and the assassination of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Colosio in Tijuana. In 1998, she was named managing editor of The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise, the first woman and first minority to hold that post. In 2001, she returned to the Express-News as night metro editor, where she served until she was named editor of Laredo Morning Times.

Fuentes was elected to the ASNE board of directors last April.

Q: So, what are the most important issues facing an editor of a small- to mid-sized daily newspaper operation in 2008?

A: Resources. We all have to expand our newsgathering and presentation online, which often means stretching what you have rather than adding to meet those ever-increasing new demands. It really is a brave new world, interesting and intriguing — but it takes time and new skills.

Q: Are smaller newspapers insulated at all from the economic pressures that are bedeviling larger dailies? If so, why?

A: Yes and no. Because smaller newspapers are, by nature, hyperlocal, there is a continuing demand for our product. A reader anywhere in the United States can find out what Congress is doing on a particular day from any number of sources, but usually only your local paper is going to tell you whether your school district board of trustees decided to raise taxes at its meeting last night. But the downturn in the nation's economy affects all of us. If fewer people are advertising in our pages, that means less revenue and less editorial space.

Q: What skills does the prospective journalist of tomorrow need to possess?

A: In addition to strong reporting and writing skills, journalists should know how to shoot photos and video and how to record good sound. Taking a class to help improve your voice provides confidence and an added edge. Knowing math gives a definite advantage. A strong grounding in ethics is vital; providing fair, balanced and accurate reporting is what sets us apart from all the rest of what's found online. Flexibility, willingness to work odd hours and odd places and a can-do spirit also are important.

Q: Describe your online operation, its strengths and its weaknesses. How can it be improved?

A: We recently redesigned our Web site and added new features, including photo galleries, blogs and the ability to comment on stories. We've offered that ability in the past but didn't get much reaction; this time around, we're seeing a healthy exchange of opinions. We've also started a new political forum; previously, we had to shut down our chat rooms due to unrelenting flame wars and major spam attacks. So far, so good. We also now have a full-fledged e-Edition. We're also offering more breaking news. We're not as wired as other areas of the country, so we haven't moved as quickly as other papers. We're planning to do a lot more, including more videos shot by reporters and slide shows as well as opening more forums and chat rooms.

Q: What about Tiempo de Laredo, your Spanish language daily. Has it been successful? What are its prospects for the future?

A: The Laredo Morning Times is more than 125 years old, and we've had some kind of Spanish language news in our pages for much of that time. Tiempo de Laredo as a separate daily, however, started just a couple of years ago. We have had good reader reaction, but we'd like to see more readership and advertising support.

Q: On your Web site, you carry a political blog called “Lucha Libre,” a play on the popular wrestling matches with a political point of view. How did it come to be?

A: Politics is a popular sport in Laredo. It riles people up like few other issues. In its 250-year history, the city has been predominantly Hispanic — from 100 percent (we were founded by the Spaniards) to today's 95 percent. We don't have much racial discrimination here. We're fond of saying that everyone's brown in Laredo, even the white people — the sun will do that to you. That's just life on the border. So the seemingly unending need of humans to find someone to criticize is vented in politics. It's called Lucha Libre, because I love la lucha. It's colorful and fun and larger than life; you shouldn't take it too seriously, although I know many people do. Just like politics.

Q: Newspapers are using readers as never before in developing content. Elaborate on why this is important.

A: Having readers providing content can be a very good thing if it brings new voices and brings the paper closer to the community. But reader-provided content needs to be held to journalistic standards. The content must be accurate, fair and balanced. It may not be as tightly written as that of a trained journalist, and that's OK, but it must meet our credibility and readability standards. Again, it's what sets us apart from the gunk that often clogs the Internet. People need to know they can count on what they read on our Web sites, just as they can count on our print product.

Q: Many believe that popular attitudes toward the First Amendment and openness in government have weakened. Why should we care about the First Amendment and government in the sunshine?

A: The government has great power over our everyday lives. What we eat, where we live, where we can go, what our children learn (or don't learn), how much things cost, what we pay in taxes — all of that is connected to what our governments do, from the local to the national level. We must keep an independent eye on their activities. The public not only has a right to know what their elected officials and government workers are doing, they have an obligation to stay informed. We cannot allow powerful people to lure us into a false sense of complacency — “don't worry your pretty little head about it, we'll take care of everything, you just watch that football game” — to the point where suddenly we discover that we're not allowed to know what they're doing “for” us and whether it really is helping us. That's a dangerous situation. We need to be free to find out what our government is doing, and free to give our opinions once we know what's going on. The First Amendment and open government are vital for democracy — and too often taken for granted by our people.

Q: What are your personal priorities for the next year?

A: Becoming better organized so I can spend more time at home, helping members of my staff work on their talents and learn new skills, learning more Web skills myself.

Q: How do you maximize staff effort at a time of budget tightening?

A: As a community paper, we get a lot of news releases from local entities, some of which are very well written. If it's basic stuff — the library has a new program, for example, or there is a new vice president at a local bank — we use it, with appropriate credit and editing, of course. That allows us to focus our reporters' time and talents on more enterprise and investigative pieces. We also make use of stringers and part timers.

Q: What's the most fun you've ever had on the job?

A: Several things come instantly to mind: covering the Branch Davidian standoff (in 1993) in Waco for more than 40 days in a row (I slept in my Plymouth Laser many of those nights in cold, rainy weather near the FBI checkpoint, and we had this intense camaraderie at Satellite City — it's crazy, I know, but you field journalists know what I'm talking about); traveling in the Mexican state of Chihuahua for two weeks with a photographer and columnist for a special project; most recently, creating our new product, a weekly newspaper for Zapata, a smaller town about 60 miles south of Laredo. *