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Forty years agone the Lakota Times rolled off the press in Pine Ridge, Due south Dakota, published by Tim Giago. That paper became Indian Land Today in 1992. Later it was the Indian Land Today Media Network, owned past the Oneida Indian Nation. It became a mag and a daily website. Then in 2017 the publication was shuttered, at least temporarily, and the assets were given to the National Congress of American Indians. And past 2018 Indian Land Today was dorsum in business concern with a tiny crew of three people.

This March ICT's ownership changed over again. Indian Country Today (or ICT4 equally we phone call information technology internally) is now independent and owned by IndiJ Public Media, an Arizona not for profit corporation, led by Karen Michel, Ho-Clamper.

"While working as a reporter for the Rapid Metropolis Journal, I was bothered by the fact that although I had been born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, I was seldom given an opportunity to do news stories about the people of the reservation," wrote Giago in a 2005 commodity in Nieman Reports. "One editor told me that I would not exist able to be objective in my reporting. I replied, 'All of your reporters are white. Are they objective when covering the white customs.'"

Giago said past the leap of 1981 he knew he had to start a paper at Pine Ridge. The first office was in a former beauty shop. "Information technology seems foreign now simply when our paper hit the stands," he wrote, "we became the merely independently owned Indian weekly newspaper in America."

The newspaper company was successful past several metrics. It went on to win hundreds of reporting awards from regional and Native press associations. And Giago said investigations from the newspaper "caused banks to exist fined and rip-offs of the tribal regime to be halted … Lakota Times proved that freedom of the press could not only succeed in Indian Country but that information technology tin brand a major difference in the way news is covered on the Indian reservations of America."

First issue of The Lakota Times (photograph via Library of Congress)

Over the years the Lakota Times expanded its reach. "Even though we somewhen had news coverage from all nine Indian reservations in Southward Dakota, we ever considered them to be one customs. All of us grew upwardly in the same fashion, which meant nosotros lived in poverty and shared many of the same difficulties," Giago wrote.

And then in 1992, "to reflect its national circulation," the Lakota Times became Indian Country Today. The national map was expanded with bureaus in Washington, D.C., Spokane and Albuquerque, likewise as financial support from the Gannett Foundation (at present the Freedom Forum) and The New York Times.

The paper's offices moved to Rapid Urban center in 1989 and past 1999 the circulation was reported equally reaching l,000 copies with a pass-along readership that topped half-dozen figures.

3 themes emerged in the early years of Lakota Times and Indian Country Today: An honest accounting of the boarding school experience (so relevant now); an exploration of the mascot outcome and its bear on on Native people; and a strident challenge to the piece of work of the American Indian Move.

First copy of Indian Country Today (photograph via Library of Congress)

And like any publication, Indian Country Today earned both praise and criticism for its writing.

Giago had a longtime feud with Chuck Trimble, Oglala Lakota. Trimble had been an editor in Denver and was executive managing director of the American Indian Press Association (before he moved on to the National Congress of American Indians). Both men attended Holy Rosary Mission Schoolhouse and for many years Giago (and a lot of united states of america) thought Trimble was the underground author of a newsletter, Lakota TIM (or Truth In Media).

Giago complained that Trimble wrote a column almost him that was "a mixture of lies and half-truths disguised as fact. Information technology is besides bad that a man with such a good record as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians should sink and then low equally to air his vicious, personal attacks upon someone he has known all of his life."

But Trimble in 2012 revealed that he edited Lakota TIM but it'south writer was more often than not a pol, Shirley Feather, Oglala Lakota. "Her new single-page journal ... would exist authored by Lakota persons under the nom de feather of 'Iktomi.' Like its legendary namesake, Iktomi used satire with sense of humor and self-deprecation in their rollicking crusade," Trimble wrote. "Lakota TIM* had a express press run which was mailed to merely several members of the then-Native American Printing Association (NAPA); but it unremarkably got a much wider circulation via fax from there on. Sending it to his peers, it was hoped, would put pressure on Giago himself to be more fair and truthful."

What's missing from that narrative is that Shirley Plumage is also Chuck'due south sister (and gatherer of gossip.)

The feud concluded by the time of Trimble'south death in March 2020. Giago wrote that Trimble's "passing has left a big hole in the field of Native American journalism."

Tim Giago's legacy

The bear on of ICT founder Giago is remarkable. Many publications have meaning ties to Giago and the original ICT. Giago's latest venture, Native Sun News, also as the Lakota Journal, and the Lakota Times (which had been Lakota Land Times until a couple of years agone).

Avis Trivial Eagle, who worked with Giago at Lakota Times, later edited the Teton Times in McLaughlin, Due south Dakota. While at Lakota Times, Picayune Eagle wrote a ten-part series on fake medicine men. She also suggested the proper name, "Indian Country Today."

Indeed Giago has retired several times. When he sold Indian Country Today to the Oneida Indian Nation's Standing Stone Media, Inc., he cited retirement as a goal. Merely soon later on he started another newspaper at Pino Ridge.

"I made a error, I think, in selling information technology," Giago told American Journalism Review. He was 65 years sometime. "So I decided to start another one."

Then 10 years ago Giago announced his retirement from Native Sun News. "I may retire from the news business," Giago wrote in a column, "but certainly not from life."

He credited his mentor, Rupert Costo, Cahuilla, the legendary editor of the national publication, Wassaja, based in San Francisco. "Rupert could be a hard man with strong opinions, but he was a man who had the courage of his convictions and he pounded that sense of standing upward for the rights of others into my head."

Terminal month at 87, Giago again reached for the gold sentry. He wrote in June that he was going to retire from the concern in July. "For more than 40 years I have worn the visor and the arm garters of an editor and publisher. I am proud of the many newspapers I have published all of those years, but information technology is time for a new generation of Native journalists and editors to take over," he wrote. Giago'due south birthday is July 12.

Ane legacy, which literally means a souvenir to the next generation, was the 1990 Yr of Reconciliation led by Giago and South Dakota Gov. George Mickleson. Mickelson proclaimed 1990 every bit the "Year of Reconciliation," leading to the declaration for a "Century of Reconciliation." And, at Giago'southward request, Mickelson and the Legislature established Native American Day in October. It was the only state to celebrate it rather than Columbus Day.

A shift to New York

Indian Country Today was sold to the Oneida Indian Nation and its visitor, Continuing Rock Media, Inc., in 1998. That venture included a magazine, "This Week in Indian Country." An active website, and the framework for a broader news network, Indian Land Today Media Network. The venture too lost a lot of money.

As Mary Annette Pember, Scarlet Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe, wrote in Columbia Journalism Review: "From the beginning, the news organization was mostly a losing financial proposition for the Oneida Nation — role vanity project, part desire to influence movers and shakers in Washington. However, while I've never spoken with Halbritter or leaders of the Oneida Nation, I think ICTMN was also a genuine source of ethnic pride for them. Rather than existence misquoted and disregarded by the media, Indians were finally office of setting the news agenda."

In that location was a lot of remarkable journalism that took identify during Oneida'south buying. Tim Johnson and Jose Barreiro teamed upwards to augment the telescopic of coverage, expanding the Indigenous world across U.S. borders. The paper staffed and covered the United nations including the development of the United Nations Annunciation on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indian Country Today's print magazine started and ended publication a couple of times (magazines are expensive) but starting in 2013 the publication was largely online. At one indicate ICTMN had a New York City function and a squad that was meant to constitute the publication as a histrion in national media.

ICT produced a "all-time of" book in 2005, "America is Indian Country," repurposing some of the writings, photography and cartoon.

Three electric current employees of ICT worked for the Oneida venture: Vincent Schilling, Akwesasne Mohawk and acquaintance editor; Heather Donovan, ICT'southward advertising director; and Pember, national correspondent.

"We reported like Indians, from the ground up," Pember wrote. "Nosotros spoke to the aunties, cousins, grandparents and kids who do the business organisation of living in Indian communities. Jacqui Banaszynski, former Knight Chair in editing at the Missouri School of Journalism and fellow at the Poynter Constitute, once described great journalists equally wing walkers, those air-prove barnstormers who wandered the edges of airplanes mid-flight. ICTMN editors urged u.s.a. to walk way the hell out."

Perhaps the most of import legacy was the ICTMN coverage of Continuing Rock. As Pember wrote: "ICTMN supported Jenni Monet of the Pueblo of Laguna as she reported tirelessly from the Water Protector camps nearly Standing Rock, and received the Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award for her coverage."

Some other cool thing from the Standing Stone Media era was the American Indian Visionary Awards. In 2006, for example, the newspaper gave that award to Hank Adams, "the lifelong activist who negotiated peaceful ends to some of the almost dangerous standoffs in modernistic Indian history, is the 2006 recipient of Indian Country Today'due south American Indian Visionary Award."

Other award winners were Billy Frank, Jr., in 2004 and Vine Deloria, Jr., in 2005.

This laurels represented a window into the brilliance of Ethnic leaders. (So easy to practise when you think of the chiefs of the 19th century … but the 20th century experience was just as rich.)

As the award annunciation read: "Adams was a crucial backside-the-scenes figure in practically every scene of the militant Indian revival of the last four decades. He is best known in the history books for his negotiations with the White Business firm to resolve the takeover of the BIA building in Washington in 1972 during the Trail of Broken Treaties protest and to wind downwards the 10-calendar week siege of Wounded Knee in 1973. Both incidents could have acquired untold casualties, but his ability to gain the confidence of both sides is credited with keeping bloodshed to a minimum."

Giago said he regretted selling Indian Country Today and claimed that the publication avoided its critics. "In the 13 years Ray Halbritter has owned Indian Land Today, the paper has never published a letter of the alphabet, a column or a news study that was critical of him, the Nation, or the newspaper. And that my friend, is known in the newspaper business concern every bit censorship," Giago wrote in a Jan 2011 column. "How do I know this? As the former editor I began to receive messages shortly later on I sold it, letters and emails that continue to come to me fifty-fifty today from Native Americans who were angry that letters and columns they wrote to ICT critical of Halbritter and of the newspaper, were never published."

Then Pember wrote about what it meant to her to exist a reporter at ICT during this era.

"Indian Land is a tough and complex beat. Meaningful coverage demands a depth of historical, legal and social noesis that reporters are seldom allowed the time necessary to larn. ICTMN gave reporters that time," Pember wrote. "At ICTMN, writers reported on scientific findings regarding the connection between trauma and ongoing social ills in Indian Land. Rather than excuse the widespread 'dis-ease' that touches Indian Land, the reporting helped communities gain a mensurate of potency and knowledge over seemingly intractable problems. ICTMN produced a special report based on my inquiry and writing about this issue.

"We blew the lid off Hollywood-style stereotypes that would have the world believe we are stoic, humorless creatures who somehow remain unengaged in contemporary life. ICTMN covered Indian rappers, artists, filmmakers, entrepreneurs and chefs."

ICT's nonprofit business model

I have written a lot about the NCAI and IndiJ Public Media ownership of ICT. So I won't go there today.

ICT4 has grown significantly over the past four years and nevertheless we have so much more to practice. Our goal is to raise well-nigh $4 one thousand thousand a yr so that we can operate bureaus in key regions, continue to improve our digital reports and our daily broadcast. (And on this front: We take a lot more news that's coming soon.)

But I want to mention some other legacy … one that will lead us forward along our other path, dissemination.

Even though our roots come from The Lakota Times and Tim Giago, at that place are also other contributions and influences. All of the people my age benefited from the work and guidance of Richard LaCourse, Yakama, Howard Stone, Inupiat, and then many other legends. I still profoundly appreciate my friendship with Suzan Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee. Every telephone telephone call is a history lesson where nosotros swap stories about those who've helped us and share our love for our people.

Harjo has been a columnist for ICT in every era. Most recently she has written lengthy pieces that defy expectations — I say that because a June 2018 "column" nigh the Reclaiming Native Truth study was more than than 8,000 words.

Almost of our readers — four out of v people — read ICT on a mobile device. That's a really long story to be scrolling on your iPhone.

Only Harjo's piece was the best read story of that week. And that calendar month. And i of the top stories of the year. All told, more than 100,000 people read Harjo'due south essay on their prison cell phones, or on Facebook (and even most of them were on prison cell phones) or linking from other spider web pages.

Readers spent 8 minutes and 12 seconds reading "If yous don't know sovereignty, you lot don't know history."

The Television set program Indian Land Today with Harriet Skye. Screenshot captured with video of Harriet Skye for induction to the North Dakota Native American Hall of Fame in 2016.

I also remember it's worth noting another anniversary. In 2023, we can mark the 50th anniversary of Indian State Today with Harriet Skye, Continuing Rock. This Idiot box show was broadcast in Northward Dakota and is an instance of how yous change the story.

As Jodi Rave wrote for Buffalo's Fire: "Skye started hosting 'Indian Country Today' in 1973. For more than a decade, she filmed some 250 episodes, most of which were recorded on ii-inch, reel-to-reel videotape. Producers used the same record for each prove, then simply a few of the final episodes survived to be archived at the North Dakota State Historical Society."

And she added that Skye "fabricated information technology seem natural for an Indian woman to report and circulate the news."

Rave wrote after Skye'due south expiry in 2018 that "I tin't call back of a unmarried Native person on Television today who hosts a talk evidence near contemporary Native news."

I love the phrase "a spacious channel" first used by Cherokee announcer Elias Boudinot in 1827. And expanding that spacious aqueduct remains our goal.

Karen Michel is IndiJ Public Media's primary executive officeholder and president and has the last word here.

"I would say ICT definitely has come a long mode in twoscore years," Michel said on the Friday newscast. "So we've really covered a lot of ground over the decades. At that place'southward many people along the way who take contributed … I'd say we accept a really strong reputation as a premier news source covering Native communities. And nosotros do things, cover stories that the mainstream media does non, and those stories are written and produced by Indigenous journalists for an Indigenous audience. And and then I retrieve that'southward really why we thing. "

Further reading:

• ICT racing ahead of its goals
• Indian Country Today, NCAI separate
• More than changes ahead for ICT

Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 contribution today to assist Indian Country Today deport out its critical mission. Sign upward for ICT's free newsletter.

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Source: https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/ict-at-40-we-reported-like-indians-from-the-ground-up

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