Native Voice One

Native American Radio Network

Free Press

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Robert Jumper Cherokee One Feather (One Feather picture)

There is an old question about the role of the media in Indian Country? How free should it be? And what’s the best practice?

This is Trahant Reports.

In the 1820s Cherokee Chief John Ross said a press should be as “free as the breeze.” He really didn’t mean that. When he was faced with a Cherokee Phoenix printing stories that he did not like … he supported a change in leadership and appointed a relative as the paper’s editor.

The Cherokee Nation was under incredible pressure to move West. And tribal leaders debated how that difficult conversation should even occur. On top of that the newspapers in Georgia were clearly on the side of removal. And the state of Georgia made it illegal for the Cherokee Nation to hold an election or even to meet. To make sure that the “news” was one-sided the Georgia Guard dumped the lead type from tribe’s newspaper into a deep well.

This was a terrible time. Make no mistake. And a tough moment to support free press.

Then again … one’s point of view about media — pretty much in any democracy — depends on those moments and which side is getting the favorable coverage. (Or not.)

The Eastern Band of Cherokee recently tried to limit coverage of the tribal council sessions to its own newspaper, the Cherokee One Feather. So reporters from non-Indian organizations were forced to cover the proceedings by watching a video feed.

Travis Long is a tribal citizen who works for the Raleigh News and Observer. He told Indian Country Today that he understood the importance of tribal sovereignty, but that a reporter needs to be inside the council chambers instead of watching it on TV. He compared it to being a sportswriter having to cover a game by only watching it on a screen.

Earlier this month the Eastern Band reversed its policy and reopened the meetings to the press.

Robert Jumper, the editor of the tribal newspaper, the Cherokee One Feather, would do more. He called for a new level of transparency, including an improvement in the way the tribe releases public documents. “An informed citizenry is an essential part of representative government,” he said.

This is a new challenge for tribes in the age of data. How do you make sure that information is reliable … and fast.

Tweets and Facebook posts go out instantly, so it’s critical that a government make sure its releases information grounded in facts.

Tribal leaders, like all politicians, bristle when the press is not perfect. Sometimes quotes are not quite right — and perhaps even out of context. But most of the work, the day to day reporting, is a mechanism to let people know what’s going on. And that remains essential.

 

I am Mark Trahant.

Some news about the news

By

 

This is Trahant Reports.

As many listeners know, my main job is editor of Indian Country Today, a national Indigenous news digital publication.

We have a lot going on …and it’s worth reporting.

First, we are settling into our new home at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on the campus of Arizona State University in downtown Phoenix. We also have a newsroom in Washington, D.C.

Second we are thrilled to announce we will begin a daily newscast in October. We are working out the details but the short video report will be available Monday thru Friday on IndianCountryToday.com as well as through many public radio and television stations.

Our first broadcast will take place on Indigenous People’s Day, October 14, 2019 and we will be coming to you from the campus of Alaska Pacific University.

Then this is only the beginning. We are working an a full half-hour broadcast that we plan to air on public television stations this fall.

As part of that goal we are building a large network of journalists to report on the news.

So that is our third big news item:Indian Country Today will open a bureau on the campus of Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage. We are eager to improve our coverage of Alaska Native issues — as well as issues involving the Arctic, the climate, and the Indigenous North. The university will be a remarkable partner helping us carry out our expanded mission.

Indian Country Today has a remarkable history that goes back some four decades. It was once a newspaper, a magazine, and now, a digital, multimedia enterprise. We are also public media. We operate as a nonprofit dedicated to serving Indian Country.

And who reads Indian Country Today? This month we will reach 450,000 unique users a month — our growth has been steady.

Most people read our work on their mobile device — nearly 70 percent on the phone and another 5 percent on tablets (about 30 percent read us on a personal computer.) And, in case you are interested, the number one device is the Apple iPhone (at 35 percent of all page views).

Our readership is young. Our number one demographic by age is 25 to 34; nearly 25 percent of our readership. Next are the ages of 35-44 (21 percent) and 45-54 (18 percent).

Our readership is more female than male — 55 percent to 45 percent.

Indian Country Today is a not-for-profit, Limited Liability Company. The primary role for NCAI is to initially appoint the editor and to work with Indian Country Today on its business and finances. NCAI also invested early money into this project and our grants —  as well as your donations — flow through the nonprofit NCAI Fund.

The editorial process for Indian Country Today is independent of our ownership.

Thank you for joining us on this journey to cover stories from an Indigenous perspective.

I am Mark Trahant.

Indian Country Today

By

There is a new chapter for Indian Country Today. The newspaper and media network has new owners, but an old task, serving readers of tribal nations.

This is Trahant Reports.

Many years ago Richard LaCourse and I would sit around and toss ideas around what the perfect Indigenous newspaper would look like. LaCourse, at the time, was trying to create a new publication in Washington, DC.

Imagination was his currency. What was possible?

LaCourse had a lot of experience answering that question. He had helped build the American Indian Press Association. He had edited or written for several tribal newspapers, including his own, The Yakama Nation Review. He launched a one-person crusade to raise the standards of Native American journalism.

I even remember the first time I heard him do that. It was on Feb. 24, 1977, at a workshop in Spokane. A speaker was telling tribal editors that they worked for tribal councils and should slant the news accordingly. LaCourse stood up. Angry. Shaking his finger. “Are you aware of the 1968 law that guarantees freedom of the press in Indian Country? Indian newspapers should be professional, straight reporting operations, and your assumptions about cheerleaders for a point of view has nothing do do with the field of journalism. Why are you making this presumption?”

I am thinking of Richard LaCourse as I set out to lead a new chapter for Indian Country Today. The news operation has been on hiatus since September. That cannot be.

Our goal is to build on the legacy of LaCourse—as well as from the first two chapters of Indian Country Today. The publication was founded by Tim Giago in South Dakota in 1991, followed by the ownership of the Oneida Nation of New York.

Indian Country Today is now owned by the National Congress of American Indians—but we will act independently. We are creating a framework to ensure that. But our primary task is the same as LaCourse’s vision: Professional, straight reporting that tells stories about Indigenous people and our nations.

The best way I know how to demonstrate our independence is to produce solid, thoughtful journalism. Every day. So there is a lot of hard work ahead. (And we will need some time to make this so.)

But  Indian Country Today is back in business and we are ready to serve.

I have been teaching journalism for the past seven years and I am always telling students that this is a time of great opportunity. The digital world means that we can reach our audiences instantly. We can communicate ideas. We can explain a complicated process. We can expose wrongdoing. Or write a story about pop culture that makes us smile.

We can even invent a new kind of news organization, one built on the currency of imagination.

 

I am Mark Trahant.

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