Smoke Signals August 1990 Page 13
Fife
(Cont.)
second. Sometimes that's hard. But this is a news
service, not an advocacy program. Every day we put our
reporting on the line. I am not going to sacrifice that for
anyone's private agenda.
"If someone calls with something concrete to deal with
I'll find out about it and get all sides so that story is fair,
accurate and balanced. But if someone calls and says,
"Hey, Bro, let's go get this guy," 1 don't have time for
that. I ain't going to go get the white man for them.
"I don't preach to the converted. I don't try to make
the rednecks mad at us, or if we do, it's at least from an
informed stance. I just want to make Natives and non
Natives think."
One common misconception the country still holds and
should think about, Fife said, is that all Native Ameri
cans arc the same.
"Indian peoples are as different from each other as
Swedes are from Russians, and that's what I'm trying to
put across to our listeners," he said. "At the same time,
folks like being drawn into a national community. I want
to help pull us together into One nation."
National Native News also seems to make a difference
in how Indian issues get covered in many places.
Jay Baltezore, 40, has freelanced for Fife since the
beginning of the news service. Correspondents get $20
for news, $200 for features. He first worked from
Alaska, then from Idaho after moving there.
"After I moved to Idaho, (National Native News)
spurred my interest in local tribes," Baltezore said. "It
forced me to acquaint myself with those issues as a
reporter. It puts a different dimension on the reporter's
education of issues."
The United States has some 1.6 million Native Ameri
cans living in all SO states, according to the latest census
figures. National Native News is the first regular, daily
communication ever between all those groups.
"National Native News gives us an idea of what other
Indian people are doing across the country," said Roy
Stone, 36, general manager of KILI public station on the
Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Though Native American tribes differ vastly, most
congressional legislation an U.S. Supreme Court
decisions affect all Native groups equally, Stone said.
"Some tribes make decisions based on local concerns,"
he said. "But if an issue goes through Congress or the
Supreme Court, it will ultimately affect all tribes.
National Native News tells us about such developments
first."
Some stations in the contiguous 48 states repeat
National Native News several times a day. Public station
KWSO, on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in
Central Oregon, broadcasts National Native News four
times daily each weekday, and Friday's report also airs
three times on Saturday. The station serves a listening
area with about 70,000 people, 2,500 of whom are
American Indians.
National Native News is "creating an awareness, like,
'Hey, I never knew that,' " said Gerald Smith, 40,
KWSO's manager. "And the local BIA people, I know
they tune in."
Fife has often had to fight to ensure his news airs
during prime time, especially on the big city stations.
"I refuse to let someone ghctto-ize our service to 6:45
a.m. on Sunday morning," he said. "One station man
ager told me he would save up the segments all week
and air them all at once on Saturday afternoon. I said
"Over my dead body. You're doing to us what you do to
all minorities. The guy thought about it and called back
and said, "You know, you're right," and began airing the
service at a good time."
These days National Native News is distributed
nationally by National Public Radio, giving it the "stamp
of approval" that means quality programming, said Cate
Cowan, 38, an NPR spokesperson in the nation's capital.
Apparently, mainstream public radio listeners are
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Fife at the "90 Native American Journalists Conference,
enjoying the service.
"Our listeners like it, and that's why we air it, because
people like it," said Jyl Hoyt, 43, managing editor of
KBSU on the campus of Boise State University in Idaho,
where the vast majority of public radio listeners are non
Native. "It's good to hear news of Native Americans," Hoyt
said. "Listener surveys also show a positive repone to
National Native News."
Fife's program has become so popular in parts of the
Lower 48 that on one Indian reservation in North
Dakota, Fife is considered the "Dan Rather" of Native
American news Kaplan said.
"I was told that if Gary ever went there, he'd probably
be swamped," she said.
Fife might go there to visit sometime, but he calls
Alaska home now.
"I love it here," he said. "It's just the most fascinating
place. And if you have any feeling for the Creator or for
a higher power, you can feel that here. You also get a
feeling for what this continent was like before the white
man came."
"Fife's voice carries across that same continent every
day from Alaska, informing Natives and non-Natives
alike on issues affecting his people in every corner of
America.
"What I do is just a natural extension of our oral
tradition - storytelling" he said. "Really, that's all I do.
"The fun part is that I get to tell the whole country."
John Creed is a professor at Chukchi College, a
branch campus of the University of Alaska Fair
banks. He teaches English and journalism.
Chukchi News and Information Service is a writing
project of Chukchi College
- Courtesy of The Tundra Times
5 Tribes Gain Direct
Control of Money
WASHINGTON - Five Indian tribes have signed
agreements by which the Bureau of Indian Affairs will
give the tribes direct control of millions of dollars in
federal money.
"Through self-governance, we can better determine the
services needed by tribal members and fulfill those
needs without the bureaucratic delays of the past,"
Wilma Mankillcr, the chief of the Cherokee Nation of
Tahlequah, Okla., said in a statement.
Three-year agreements announced Tuesday also cover
four smaller Indian tribes. They are the Quinalt Indian
Nation of Taholah, Wash.; the Lummi Indian Nation of
Bellingham, Wash.; the Jamestown Klallam Indian Tribe
of Sequim, Wash.; and the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe of
Hoopa, Calif.
"This is a major step toward giving tribal governments
full authority and responsibility for governing their
reservations," Eddie F. Brown, an assistant Interior
secretary, said.
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