Integrity Fuels Native American Newspapers Story-Date: 10:08 a.m. PST Sunday , September 21, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Integrity Fuels Native American Newspapers By Tim Giago, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 22--When Cherokee Indian, Dan Agent, left the service of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., and relocated to his homeland in Oklahoma as the new editor of the tribal newspaper, The Cherokee Advocate, he forgot one thing. When the tribe owns the newspaper it not only does all of the hiring, but also the firing. Mr. Agent and his entire staff was fired by tribal chief Joe Byrd for following some of the controversial stories generated by the tribal government. Mr. Byrd had been on a firing spree of late. He canned the three justices of the Cherokee Judicial Appeals Tribunal and 14 members of the marshal service because he did not consider their tactics in investigating his spending practices to be fair. Mr. Agent and all five of his staff bit the dust for trying to be newspaper reporters. He forgot that when an entity pays all of the bills, including salaries, it has an awful lot to say about how the business is operated. When former Principal Chief, Wilma Mankiller, retired because of poor health, she did not anticipate the turmoil the tribe would find itself in since her departure. There is a political crisis on the Cherokee Nation, no doubt, and it is one that is giving much of Indian country a black eye. I've known Dan Agent for many years and have always had the highest respect for his journalistic skills and integrity. My newspaper, Indian Country Today, a totally independent weekly, the largest Indian newspaper in America, will be expanding into Oklahoma in the next few months. Perhaps Mr. Agent is looking for a job with a newspaper that knows the meaning of "freedom of the press." One of the major problems we have encountered as an independent weekly newspaper is that of being associated with press organizations. We joined the South Dakota Newspaper Association about 15 years ago because we truly believed we could not only learn from them, but we could also educate them about the conditions and problems of the largest minority in South Dakota, the American Indian. In order to compete, we worked diligently improving the color, graphics, design and layout of our newspaper. We worked hard to improve story content and our photographs. Since the SDNA uses press associations from other states to judge their annual Better Newspaper contest, we felt we would be treated fairly. We were. In fact, Indian Country Today began winning all of the major awards in our weekly category. In a short time the weeklies in our category complained enough that the SDNA decided to move us into competition with the large dailies in the state. They removed us as a weekly newspaper and threw us in against the major dailies of Knight Ridder and the Gannett Corporation. We publish 52 newspapers per year while the papers we were expected to compete against publish 365 per year. They had many more photos and stories to choose from in head to head competition. We protested to no avail. Last week we resigned from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. After I wrote a column critical of John Sturm, the head of the Newspaper Association of America, he responded in an angry letter which suggested, in effect, that if I did not like the policies of the NAA, I should drop out and join the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The only other large Indian weekly in America is owned by the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Times has been in hot water of late with their chairman, Albert Hale. The newspaper has allowed itself to leave the field of journalistic integrity and it has learned to sling mud with the worst of newspapers. A recent cartoon lampooning the 11 people who drowned during a flash flood in an arroyo on the reservation is indicative of how the paper has fallen. Mr. Hale went on the public airwaves to apologize for the not-so-humorous efforts of the tribal newspaper. Much to the credit of Mr. Hale, although he has seen the tribal newspaper tear into the very private aspects of his life, including his marital problems, he has not used the power he has as chairman to fire any of the employees of the Navajo Times. He has criticized the editor of the Times, but has kept a hands off policy toward the newspaper. Indian Country Today will, at times, be critical of the political mistakes of tribal politicians, or we will report on corruption and mismanagement of tribal moneys, but we never cross that line to attack the personal lives of tribal politicians. We adhere to the policies of the Aspen News: "If you don't want it in the paper, don't do it." But only when it involves the way they are doing or not doing their jobs. A few years back I sat across the desk of "Punch" Sulzberger, then publisher of the New York Times, and told him of my dream of having a totally independent, national Indian newspaper. "Punch" took a few of my newspapers on a trip to England he had to make that week. The day after his return to America, I got a call from him. He said I like your newspaper, I like your ideas, and I wonder if the New York Times can invest in your venture." And they did. This contributed greatly to our independence. As Mr. Agent discovered, tribal newspapers are great vehicles at getting out the "good" news to tribal members, but independents have the freedom to dig much deeper. As the editor of the Navajo Times discovered, it takes a good chairman to allow him the freedom he now enjoys. Freedom of the press comes in many forms. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------