The fi rst Native newspaper in North America was the Cherokee Phoenix, which the Cherokee Nation initially published in both English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828. Since 2018, the newspaper has published a special annual edition in the Cherokee language, which features a QR code that, when scanned with a smartphone, reads the issue in Cherokee.


FOUNDED IN CULTURE


The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) estimates about 400 Indigenous news outlets—including print, digital and broad- cast—operate throughout the United States and Canada. Their followers range from a few hundred readers or listeners to millions of online and television viewers. Loris Taylor is president and CEO of Na-


tive Public Media, a nonprofi t organization that


supports Indigenous broadcasting. A


citizen of the Hopi Nation, Taylor says that modern technology enables media to amplify the time-honored Native tradition of bringing people together: “The plaza is a very distinct space within the Hopi community, where ceremonies take place, where the community gathers for anything that is signifi cant.” She says that tribal radio “is a drum within that space that transmits to the current generation and to future generations the value of our his- tory, of our language, of our oral traditions.” For Native media professionals, deeply in-


grained cultural values are often foundational to journalism. Francine Compton, a citizen of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, is an executive producer at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) based in Winnipeg, Canada, and a NAJA board member. She says that what she learned growing up in her culture guides her work: “The seven teachings are love, re-


spect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth. That guides me as someone who grew up with my culture, and it guides me in my job. It’s journalism—it’s a passion to fi nd the truth.” NAJA conducted a survey in 2019 among


nearly 500 Indigenous media producers and consumers as part of its Red Press Initiative to gain a better understanding of the val- ues of and challenges to Indigenous media. When asked if their Indigenous media rein- forced cultural values, more than half of all those surveyed responded “most of the time,” while nearly 95 percent responded at least “some of the time.” Some media outlets reinforced their Indig-


enous culture by publishing or broadcasting in their Native language. Nearly 10 percent of those the Red Press Initiative surveyed responded they did so most of the time and 80 percent responded, at least sometimes. The fi rst Native newspaper in North


America was the weekly Cherokee Phoenix, which the Cherokee Nation fi rst published in both English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828. Since 2018, the newspaper has published a special annual edition in the Cherokee language that features a QR code that, when scanned by a smartphone, reads the issue in Cherokee. APTN broadcasts National Hockey League games in the Plains Cree language. “When


it comes to languages, absolutely media has a role to play in educating and preserving,” Compton says. “That’s something that is giv- ing back to the community,” she says.


MAKING NATIVE VOICES HEARD


Indigenous media has always served as a plat- form to empower Indigenous voices. “Tribal media is the glue that is so vital to the free- doms that we enjoy. For tribal communities, it’s really about how we support everything that’s important to us,” Taylor says. “It’s about our water and land rights. It’s about our right to be who we are. It’s about our right to prac- tice our culture, and it’s really about the right to own our own identity.” Many of the more than two dozen journal-


ists who founded the Native American Press Association (now NAJA) in 1983 represented newspapers


that were telling Indigenous


stories written by Indigenous journalists. The publications included the Lakota Times, Southern Ute Drum, Spilyay Tymoo, Jicar- illa Chieftain, Smoke Signal, Indian Times, Wotanin Wowapi, Indian Finance Digest, Talking Leaf and Navajo Times Today. More than 300 Indigenous print and digital publi- cations exist today. Native radio broadcasts began to bloom in


the United States and Canada in the 1970s, and continue to be an important source of news,


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 33


PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX


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