DECOLONIZING YOUR NEWSFEED

INDIGENOUSLY | 11.27.20

It may sound saccharine for me to say, but I got emotional today from listening to, of all things, a podcast, and not just any podcast, but one produced by my colleague and friend, Farai Chideya. Her recent launch of Our Body Politic is emblematic of this newsletter - a direct response to this shifting America and where journalists like me fit in this moment. Her latest episode features a short roster of women of color journalists that I’m flattered to be grouped with: Maria Hinojosa, Wendi Thomas, Somini Segupta, Sarah Chang, and Lisa Lucas. In a show with so many valued voices laying bare so much validating truth, for me, the part where I teared up, was when Farai and Maria discussed the art of never giving up. That is Indigenously in a nutshell.

In my very first newsletter, I didn’t shy away from the hard truth about my not-too-distant and traumatic illegal arrest. Professionally, it derailed me to the point where I was on the brink of leaving the profession, an industry that has always been difficult to navigate as a woman of color, but lately, has been downright nasty to me. When George Floyd was murdered, walking away from journalism no longer seemed like an option. Rather, it made sense of my lived experiences of confronting police and media bias. Whereas journalism felt like a calling before my ordeal—afterward, it now feels like a mandate, particularly at a time when journalists everywhere should be demanding a collective conscience from all that’s happening in our shared world.

This week’s cover art features the journalism of my Pueblo ancestors, dozens of ancient carvings, today known as “Newspaper Rock.” These markings have sustained time, although rarely are they considered original sources of journalism. But they are—pre-colonized thoughts that have never faded and my reason to keep going.

I’ve devoted this latest edition of Indigenously to examining the Indigenous media space. Consider it a primer ahead of my humble ask this #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1. As mentioned in my last newsletter, I’m raising funds on this one occasion to keep Indigenously free and independent. More details are in the Feedback section below.

On my Sunday Reading List: threats facing women journalists worldwide, the state of Native youth, and this recent report about Indigenous radio published by the Indigenous Media Caucus of which I am a proud member (I’ve only seen the drafts.)

Dawaa’e - thank you for being here, fine readers. See you Tuesday.

Jenni Monet

THE INDIGENOUS INTERNET

INDIGENOUSLY INDEX

Approximate number of Pueblo petroglyphs marking “Newspaper Rock”: 650

Total years since the first Native newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was published: 192

Number of languages the Phoenix was published in: 2

Total years Cherokee editor, John Rollin Ridge, led coverage for the Sacramento Bee: 17 

Percentage of Native Americans staffed by US Newsrooms in 2019: 0.22%

Estimated number of Indigenous media sources in the United States: 200

Total number of public radio stations across Indian Country: 59

Percentage of newspapers, newsletters, and radio stations that are tribally-owned: 72%

Approximate debt accrued by the tribally-owned Navajo Times Today in 1984: $1M

Total times an NTT reporter was fired for writing critically about the Navajo Nation: 4

Total amount Indian Country Today funded by San Manuel Band of Mission Indians: $1M

Number of newspapers Lakota journalist and entrepreneur Tim Giago has started: 4 

Total articles on media access in UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: 1

Number of countries surveyed in the first study by the Indigenous Media Caucus: 19 

Approximate number of Indigenous languages that could thrive from media access: 7K

THE CRISIS

On assignment for the Huffington Post, writer Julian Brave NoiseCat found himself at the massacre site of Wounded Knee in South Dakota not long ago and with an almost pre-scripted dispatch: “How The Poorest County In The U.S. Is Breaking The Poverty Cycle.” But then he realized, as so many exploring Indian Country so often do, that early assumptions from a distance rarely match the realities on the ground. He ditched the assignment and wrote about it in a piece released this week, by the Columbia Journalism Review.

Speaking with First Nations practitioners from Canada where there is an investment in covering Indigenous Affairs in the established press, Noisecat (who is also First Nations, Secwepemc/St’at’imc) crystallized the story-upon-a-story method that is so vitally required in holding history and modern complexity to support the Indigenous narrative. His conversations revealed such an approach as “systems journalism” and explored more broadly whether the limits of the colonized press can ever truly support Indigenous story, particularly when the layers of injustices are so severely stacked. It’s a smart and crisp read for any reader, not just journalists, and truly speaks to what it means to decolonizing our newsfeeds.

ENDORSEMENT

FEEDBACK

Indigenous Peoples have an opportunity unlike ever before to reclaim our narrative. We saw that this week with the unprecedented number of essays published in the colonized press about the anti-Indigenous truths of Thanksgiving. As I told Ella Sogomonian of KRON, San Francisco, the fact that we’re “rethinking” colonial concepts at all is a promising sign of things to come. You can take in our Thanksgiving Day Instagram LIVE chat on Ella’s feed, here.

I’m hoping this momentum helps carry even the smallest contributions to support this newsletter on #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1. It’s true. It seems newsletters are becoming the new blog or podcast sensation to which subscription fatigue has become a real thing. It’s why I’m making a one-time humble ask to keep bringing you free content that time and again people say they learn from. What a rewarding feeling and such a compliment.

To learn more about how you can sustain Indigenously this Tuesday, please visit our fundraising page where we’ve partnered with the Seventh Generation Fund to make your gift a tax-deductible one this year. We know it helps.

QUOTE

The Indigenously newsletter is produced by Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo), Tsanavi Spoonhunter (Northern Arapaho) and Miacel Spotted Elk (Diné)

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