8 JULY 15, 2003
Smoke Signals
NAJA Offers Plenty For Pros and Students, Too
Smoke Signals staffers win eight writing and photography awards.
By Ron Karten
Pulitzer Prize winning The New
York Times reporter Charlie
LeDuff (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of
Chippewa Indians), arrived in
Green Bay, Wisconsin for the Na
tive American Journalists
Association's (NAJA) annual con
ference from his new beat in Cali
fornia and hot off covering war in
Iraq (see related story). Prairie
Band Potawatomi News reporter
Mary L. Young drove 12 hours
across Kansas to avoid the hassles
of plane travel these days, and
stopped along the way to cover an
election story. Smoke Signals Edi
tor Brent Merrill and WebGraph
ics Designer Willie Mercier, both
Grand Ronde Tribal members, flew .
into Green Bay after covering a
timber summit in North Carolina. ...
Hundreds of Indian reporters, "
editors, photographers, design spe
cialists and journalism students
came from across America to take .
in four days of nationally-noted
speakers, workshops, networking,
native cultural experiences and the
awards ceremony at the group's
19th Annual conference. It was
partly business as usual, but also
a highlight of the year for those
who saw their work honored. The
Sovereign Nation of Oneida hosted
the event.
Students at both high school and .
college levels arrived three days
early to publish newspapers and
produce television and radio broad-.
casts during the conference. High
school kids, including a few even
younger, published a single issue
called, Rising Voice, at the begin
ning of the four-day session, and
the college troops published a daily
edition called, Native Voice.
Students interested in broadcast
journalism and those interested in
print worked together in what
Television Coordinator Mary Kim
Titla (San Carlos Apache), reporter
for KPNX-TV in Phoenix, called a
"convergence" of talents. Five stu
dents worked on television, five on
radio broadcasts and 11 on print
publications, she said. Newspapers
were distributed daily, radio work
was recorded and available for
playback in house, and television
work appeared on closed circuit
Editor of The Oregonian, who co
led a workshop called, "Truth in
Metaphor," which also was the title
for the entire conference. Her key
note speech continued the focus on
metaphor though she spoke more
1
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LeadCTfjThe 2003 Native American Journalist's Association Conference was held
in Green Bay, Wisconsin this year. 2000 vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke
was one of the keynote speakers at the conference. LaDuke, a 1982 graduate of
Harvard, provides vision and leadership to many. Hundreds of Native journalists from
across the country converged to share ideas, learn new techniques, and be recog
nized for their efforts over the past year.
monitors throughout the Radisson
Hotel in Green Bay where the con
ference was held.
"We tried to create a real news
room atmosphere with real dead
lines," said Titla.
Youngest of the students was
eighth grader Ashley Sarah Jaywin
White (Forest County Wisconsin
Potawatomi). "I didn't know any
thing about journalism," she said.
"I learned how to condense stories.
I used to be real shy. I learned to
be a little more open."
On the opposite end of the expe
rience line was Pulitzer Prize win
ner Jacqui Banaszynski, once an
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Native Voice Harlan McKosato, host of Native America Calling, the first and only
nationally syndicated radio show produced by Native Americans, emceed the 2003
NAJA Awards dinner.
generally about the role of stories
in our lives.
"Think very very clearly about
what the story means for readers,"
she said, and counseled reporters
that though they may be writing
about particular people involved
with particular incidents, they can
also be writing about "universals",
or situations that repeat themselves
around the world and from culture
to culture.
In that regard, she threw in a few
other telling observations. She
quoted painter Pablo Picasso, who
said that "art is a lie that tells you
the truth," and that "propaganda
is a metaphor used for lying."
"I need stories to know I'm not
alone," she said.
In a session on photography
called, "Capturing Defining Mo
ments," Green Bay Press Gazette
Photo Editor Steve Levin said that
photographing tragedies can, like
participating in a war, create post
traumatic stress. "You're unaware
when you're shooting, but after,
you can become unstable, haunted
by the situation."
In a bit of advice that is probably
as important for lay people to know
as professionals, Levin said that it
is not always the best idea to enter
difficult situations with a camera
blazing. "You have to think of a
way to engage these people. Don't
bring the camera out until they're
ready."
And advice that came out again
and again for reporters as well as
photographers: patience. It is im
portant to "build a relationship,"
said Levin, in order "to get the emotion."
Winona LaDuke, (Ojibwe) Indian
activist and in the last national elec
tion, Green Party Vice Presidential
candidate, said that compelling In
dian stories await coverage. She
described the challenge in Wash
ington, D.C. ("either you are at the
table or on the menu,") and the
challenge from her own backyard,
where her nephew was killed in a
fall at an EPA Superfund site.
Paul DeMain, editor and pub
lisher of News from Indian Coun
try, described his turnaround after
years of supporting Leonard
Peltier, and brought those in atten
dance up to date on the Peltier
camp's lawsuit against DeMain.
National Association of Tribal
Historic Preservation Officers
(NATHPO) has joined NAJA "to of
fer to all Americans a web-based,
Native American point-of-view on
the three-year commemoration of
the Lewis & Clark bicentennial
commemoration," according to a
NATHPO handout at the session.
"Many Nations: News from the
Lewis and Clark Trail" is found at
www.nathpo.org.
Discussion ranged from the cor
rect pronunciation of Sacajawea's
name to the possibility that tourist
development along the Lewis &
Clark trail will destroy important
Indian cultural sites in the process.
"This is a particularly good oppor
tunity to do good journalism (for a
mainstream paper) with Native fla
vor," said Kara Briggs (Yakama),
a Project Advisory Member, a re
porter for The Oregonian and
former NAJA president.
The issue of Indian mascots
again came up, fanned by a deci
sion at the Minneapolis Star Tri
bune to abandon its nine-year-old
policy banning use of Indian nick
names. Angry Indian reporters
peppered the paper's managing
editor with questions about the
paper's policy on using slurs of
other minority groups.
Exciting and unifying as the con
ference was for Native media
people, it did not ignore disagree
ments among participants. Stu
dents challenged the "Reading Red
Report" concerning Indian mascots
by The Oregonian's Briggs. "Re
port flawed in quest to ban mas
cots" ran a Native Voice headline
one day. "I am deeply concerned
about a variety of issues in the ar
ticle," Briggs shot back in a Letter
to the Editor. And Native Voice de
fended itself in a compelling show
of a real world journalistic battle.
The documentary film, "The
Leech and the Earthworm," by
Debra Harry (Northern Paiute),
took on scientists collecting genetic
material from indigenous people,
and then selling the genetic infor
mation to corporations who patent
it . B