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This week, my Mirror Award arrived in the mail for my winning essay “The Crisis in Covering Indian Country” and its timing is significant. For those of you who aren’t familiar, the Mirror Awards are a competition hosted by Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications that celebrates works of media criticism. I was honored to be a finalist let alone receive top recognition for “Best Commentary;” the roster of awardees is that esteemed. In my essay, examined today’s uptick in reporting on Indigenous affairs alongside the growing pains that are most prevalent in these endeavors, what I argue can lead to further distortion of the most under-represented narratives in journalism: Indian Country. Last week, I wrote how we were in the midst of one of the most historic news cycles in the modern Native American timeline: an important Treaty was upheld, a controversial pipeline was ordered to shutter, and a symbol of racist mascotry was canceled (a day that some vowed would NEVER come). Yet, in these great strides, the journalism by the legacy press, at times, has been difficult to swallow. I could wax on about how the headlines got bungled and the racism persisted—but it’s easier to just lament over the fact that none of these first drafts of Indigenous history were authored by an Indigenous journalist. Sure, there was plenty of substantive commentary featured in the Opinion column where Native American voice is routinely relegated by the colonized press. But not journalism. Why not? It feeds into the Crisis, what I wrote in my essay: “Without credibility or authentic representation, Indigenous journalism is greatly impacted by potential funders, future collaborators, and perhaps outsiders who think they can best Indigenous business models with fresh approaches—ones that could very well exclude Indigenous efforts to sustain the narrative.”
Another problem is a lack of journalism education in Indian Country. I introduce this Crisis here because as I grow this newsletter, you can expect to see more media criticism, not as a way to slight any one publication or individual, but because there is nothing controversial about calling out mis-and-disinformation and demanding more than second or third rate representations for America’s most marginalized peoples. I discuss more in our online award presentations held virtually in late June. Enjoy.
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