8
Smoke Signals
OCTOBER 1, 2019
A free press is the exception in Indian Country
Reporting the news has
proven problematic for
Tribal media outlets
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
PRIOR LAKE, Minn. — When
reporter Angel Ellis rejoined the
staff of Mvskoke News in August
2018, she looked forward to being a
part of one of a few publications in
Indian Country operated free and
independent of Tribal government
influence.
That freedom didn’t last long.
A new law passed by the Muscogee
(Creek) National Council in Novem-
ber 2018 in what many referred to as
a “last minute” emergency meeting
repealed press freedom protections
for the Tribe’s media. It placed
Mvskoke Media, located in Okmul-
gee, Okla., under the control of Prin-
cipal Chief James Floyd, repealing
a 2015 Tribal law that created an
independent media outlet.
The ruling was condemned by me-
dia outlets across the United States.
The Native American Journalists
Association called the move a “direct
form of censorship.”
“Indigenous journalism plays a
critical role in supporting Tribal
sovereignty and self-determination,”
NAJA officials said in a statement.
“From holding the powerful ac-
countable to disseminating stories
of cultural significance, a free and
independent Indigenous press sup-
ports the goals of Tribal nations by
providing an open public forum for
community voices.”
Since the free press repeal, Ellis
said half of the staff has quit and
the remaining reporters struggle to
meet deadlines because their work
must be edited by the Tribal gov-
ernment’s executive branch before
it can be published.
Ellis spoke to an audience of more
than 50 reporters during a panel
discussion about the status of free
press in Indian Country during the
2019 National Native Media Confer-
ence held in Prior Lake, Minn. The
conference was held from Sunday,
Sept. 15, through Wednesday, Sept.
18, and was sponsored by NAJA.
long to approve it. It took
three months before my
work made the front page
again.”
However, Ellis has re-
solved to stay and fight for
independent journalism.
“Without the help of
NAJA and the Society of
Professional Journalists, I
would have kicked this to
the curb a long time ago,”
she said.
In 2008, long before
Mvskoke News was a free
press, Ellis broke a story
about a Tribal official who
was arrested for 15 counts
of embezzlement. A photo
of the official in handcuffs
was published on the front
page of the newspaper.
“Some people didn’t
Contributed photo
think that reflected well
Smoke Signals staff writer Danielle Frost
on the Tribe,” she said. “So,
and Editorial Board member Andy Jenness
I was fired for reporting the
news.”
accepted five awards on behalf of the
Ellis worked in main-
newspaper at the 2019 Native American
stream
media for the next
Journalists Association National Native Media
decade before returning to
Conference held on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The
work for her Tribe, which
awards were given out during an evening
in addition to publishing
banquet and cultural night, which capped the
a newspaper also has a
four-day conference held in Prior Lake, Minn.
TV and radio broadcast.
Editor Dean Rhodes received a first-place
When Tribal members
award in the Best News Story category while
have asked her in recent
months why a story wasn’t
Frost took second place in that category and
published, Ellis responds
the Best Sports Story category. Frost also
candidly.
received a first-place award for Best Coverage
“I have conversations on
of Native America. Former Smoke Signals
a daily basis about why
photojournalist Michelle Alaimo took first
stories weren’t published,”
place for Best Sports Photo. Smoke Signals
she said. “I tell people be-
has won 54 awards from NAJA over the last
cause the stories were
decade.
squashed, and that’s why
they aren’t getting the information.”
Other panelists were Osage News
Ellis said that it’s crucial for the
Senior Reporter Benny Polacca Tribal membership to realize where
(Hopi) and Smoke Signals Edito- their money is going.
rial Board member Andy Jenness
“It’s important for the member-
(Grand Ronde). Both are among the ship to know who controls the purse
few independent press publications strings,” she said. “I had to spend
in Indian Country.
a lot of time educating people as
“I had my first story suppressed to what their rights were, and that
soon after the free press was re- independent media doesn’t mean
pealed,” Ellis said. “They pulled independent from Tribal funds.”
my stories off the front page and
After Tribal members decried the
we struggled to get the paper out free press repeal, a “shield law” was
because administration took so enacted protecting sources from
retaliation and placing the then
secretary of commerce in charge of
the newspaper. However, the shield
law did nothing to protect reporters
from retaliatory action for doing
their jobs.
“We have a friendly legislator who
is running for office and wants to put
a ballot initiative before the people
so they can vote on whether to have
a free press,” Ellis said.
The rough draft of the initiative
was discussed by the National Coun-
cil’s business, finance and justice
committee on Thursday, Sept. 19,
right after Ellis returned from the
NAJA conference. It passed 4-1. The
next step is for the rough draft to be
finalized by Oct. 7.
Ellis noted that Speaker Lucian
Tiger III has verbally committed to
call an emergency session at that
point, where the National Council
could vote and put the question on
the citizens’ ballot in November.
Ellis and former editor Sterling
Cosper (Muscogee Creek), who
Smoke Signals ad
resigned in protest when the free
press was repealed, spoke at the
Thursday meeting. It was streamed
on Facebook Live and had close to
2,000 views.
Cosper is now a programs manag-
er for NAJA.
“I think it would be the right thing
to do to put this to a vote so that the
citizens can have their say,” he said.
Ellis spoke to legislators about the
difference between a shield law and
a free press.
“Shield laws protect the people we
talk to,” she said. “In an independent
press, parameters are put in place
that protect us from undue influ-
ence. … I have had my stories edited
by the executive branch and missed
deadlines that cost our citizens a lot
of money. They are watching and
they see censorship happening. It’s
not a secret.”
Free press panel
During the panel, the topic of inde-
pendent journalism in Indian Coun-
try was discussed with Indigenous
Media Freedom Alliance Director
Jodi Rave SpottedBear (Mandan-Hi-
datsa and Lakota) moderating.
SpottedBear revealed the findings
in a recent NAJA Red Press Initia-
tive, which researched press free-
dom in Indian Country by surveying
Tribal officials, Tribal media produc-
ers and Tribal media consumers.
The study was conducted by for-
mer NAJA programs director and
current Stanford University John S.
Knight Fellow Bryan Pollard (Cher-
okee). He also served as executive
editor of the Cherokee Phoenix from
2007-16. The Cherokee Nation, in
Tahlequah, Okla., was one of the
first Tribes in the nation to pass a
free press ordinance in 2009.
A majority of Tribal media outlets
are either partially or fully funded
by the Tribal government, due to
remote locations and small audience
sizes, which makes it difficult for
traditional revenue streams of ad-
vertising and subscriptions to sup-
port a newspaper. This can result
in Tribal media being supervised by
the same entity it is supposed to hold
accountable, creating a potential for
government-controlled media.
Early findings from the Red Press
Initiative include a lack of response
from Tribal officials, nearly a third of
Tribal media employees self-censoring
their work out of fear of losing their
jobs and a third of employees stating
that public relations staff influence
published news all or most of the time.
“I have been in situations where
I wasn’t allowed to go to NAJA be-
cause officials didn’t like the stories
that I won awards for,” Ellis said.
Polacca said he answers to his
editor, not the public relations staff.
“Osage News is not censored,” he
said. “If something is petty or not
newsworthy, we don’t report it. If it
is newsworthy, we do.”
Jenness said that while the Grand
Ronde Editorial Board can suggest
story ideas, the Smoke Signals ed-
itor makes final decisions on what
will be published.
“I am very thankful for that,” he
said. “And I think we have made it
very clear to our readership that the
editor has the final approval. … It’s
important for Tribal citizens to know
who has final say.” n