Going Native: The News from Indian Country

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Indian Country Today, a longtime national Native American news outlet, is undergoing a reboot. After years of financial struggle, the media network will go entirely online with a new owner and editor. It will truly be a test of relevance, economic viability, and especially independent free speech.

Before Indian Country Today, the news organization was called the Lakota Times, a weekly newspaper owned and published by Oglala Sioux member Time Giago. In 1999, the Oneida Nation of New York bought the paper. The Lakota Times had already become Indian Country Today through a grant from the Freedom Forum, the foundation of the Gannett Corporation. Believing the paper had great outreach positional, the Oneida invested a great deal of money in the weekly paper.

But the Native American Journalists Association had great concerns about the paper’s sale to a tribal government. Free press issues were the hottest concerns of the day. Soon after Indian gaming began to flourish, tribes poured money into tribal newspapers and radio stations. However, it all came with a price. With tribes footing the bill for salaries, publishing, and distribution costs, their newspapers’ coverage of tribal affairs became uneven. Minutes from tribal councils were routinely not published. Editors who published stories critical of tribal governments were fired. The war for a free press in Indian Country was on.

These days, tribal newspapers are hard to find. Most have been shut down. The topic of a free press in Indian Country is all but abandoned by the Native American Journalists Association.

Full disclosure: I was hired as the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Indian Country Today in 1999. Though my office was located within one of the Oneida’s lobbying law firms, I was never told what to cover. Only once did I walk into my office and find a press release slipped under my door. It was a Senate hearing on an Oneida land claim. It seemed newsworthy, so I covered it.

Yet, less than a year later, a new publisher was brought on board. He was hired by the Oneida tribe and he wanted to meet with me to discuss positive coverage of tribal news. He wanted me to wear a suit and tie. I had not worn a tie since my temp days in the 1980s. I resigned.

In recent years, Indian Country Today struggled. The paper ceased printing its regular newsletter and a short-lived magazine format was instituted. Then, an online edition was created, but again, revenue fell short. Now, after nearly twenty years, the organization has been sold to the National Congress of American Indians, a political advocacy organization representing more than 250 tribes. Esteemed veteran journalist Mark Trahant (Shoshone Bannock) was hired as editor. Knowing Trahant as I do, I highly doubt he would had signed on if he had any concerns of editorial interference.

These days, tribal newspapers are hard to find. Most have been shut down. The topic of a free press in Indian Country is all but abandoned by the Native American Journalists Association. However, there are exceptions. Lori Edmo Suppah (Shoshone Bannock) has been the editor of the ShoBan News in Idaho for a number of years. She’s had her share of run-ins with the tribal council and has even been fired on occasion. And yet she has hung on, putting out a highly relevant and newsworthy publication.

It is hard to tell if the new Indian Country Today will have a viable place in Indian news. Though the publication bragged about being the national voice for tribes, the truth was it was not. News is always local in Indian Country.

Though Indian Country Today bragged about being the national voice for tribes, the truth was it was not. 

Recently, I have been asked to consult on a project by the Minnesota Humanities Center regarding democracy and discourse in Indian Country. It is a daunting endeavor. Worldwide, journalists are persecuted, imprisoned, or murdered. In the United States, we take a free press for granted; as a journalist in this country, you don’t have to die to be silenced or ignored. Big city and small town newspapers all over the nation are losing readers, and a significant number of publications are closing up shop.

With the rise of Fox News and Donald Trump, the media challenges are even more severe. The only consistent source of news, fake or otherwise, for many people comes from social media. People flock to social media in droves to discuss the issues of the day.

I told the Minnesota Humanities Center that it must embrace social media, a growing feature in Indian Country, to stir a long-term discussion on democracy and discourse. Social media is an open space that the tribes cannot control, and where tribal governments are no longer exempt from criticism coming from their communities. And that’s a good thing.

Mark Anthony Rolo is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and author of the memoir My Mother Is Now Earth.