Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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The native american press
Where the First Amendment doesn’t apply: The Native
American press*
* Or, where writing the truth about politicians can
get you fired
By Karen Lincoln Michel
First Amendment scholar and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Leonard Levy
once wrote, "So long as the press may be subjected to government control
... the press cannot be free."
His words hold special meaning to Native American journalists working
in places where the First Amendment does not apply. One of these places
is the Navajo Reservation, where The Navajo Times’ staff says it has faced
political pressure for ongoing coverage of a government scandal.
"Alerting you to a situation here," began an e-mail message on March
10 from Marley Shebala, a Times reporter who believed that editor Tom Arviso
was about to lose his job at the tribe’s weekly newspaper in northeast
Arizona. "There is a good chance that Tom will be ... demoted and reassigned"
for printing stories about Navajo Nation President Albert Hale’s alleged
mismanagement and abuses of authority.
Arviso’s boss had been fired the previous week, Shebala noted. She said
he told others that his dismissal resulted from his refusal to follow Hale’s
orders to "censor the Navajo Times" and fire Arviso and Shebala.
Hale, however, says no such orders were given.
Regardless, Arviso says his new boss has a closer relationship with
the president, adding, "If Mr. Hale told him to do something, he’d do it."
The problem facing the Navajo Times — and many other reservation newspapers
attempting to tackle controversial issues — stems from the fact that the
tribal government also pays the tribal news staff’s salaries. The government
that gets criticized in the tribal newspaper is the same government that
approves the paper’s operating budget each year.
In times of political strife, like the kind facing Shebala and Arviso,
a native journalist is put to the test. Some walk a fine line, balancing
complete and accurate news coverage against the paper’s ability to survive
the consequences of such reporting.
Since its inception in 1984, the Native American Journalists Association
has wrestled with this issue, which confronts many of its members. About
56 percent of NAJA’s print journalists who are Native American work for
reservation newspapers owned by a tribe, compared to broadcast, where 19
percent of native members work for tribally run radio stations.
Dialogues have taken place between native journalists and tribal leaders
during annual NAJA conferences. Although there are examples of tribal publications
that achieved editorial freedom, threats of closures and firings continue
throughout Indian country.
The president’s wrath
"Just from what I’ve experienced at the Navajo Times, I’d have to say
that a free press in Indian country doesn’t exist" for tribally owned papers,
said Arviso, who, two months after the cyberspace message appeared, still
had the title of Navajo Times editor.
"As long as Indian newspapers are owned by the tribe, there’s always
going to be that control factor they have to deal with from the tribal
government. People in power view the press as more of a threat than an
asset."
Arviso said he knew the paper was in danger when Hale, on his first
day in office in January 1995, publicly criticized the Times’ coverage
of his political campaign as unfair and biased.
After Hale’s first few months in office, Arviso said, the newsroom would
get calls about what stories should appear and where Hale’s photo should
be placed. When Arviso disregarded the administration’s wishes, animosity
grew.
"I’ve asked the newspaper staff to print certain things," Hale said
in a telephone interview. "But I haven’t censored them. I’ve not brought
to bear any pressure on the editor or any of the reporters."
Hale says he kept a hands-off approach toward the newspaper when it
reported more than a year ago about his marital problems and his wife’s
claims that he was having an affair with his press secretary. The couple
has since divorced.
Again, he said, he kept his distance when it began running stories last
fall about Hale’s alleged misuse of his corporate credit card. He is suspected
of charging an estimated $43,000 in personal expenses.
The paper’s inquiry into Hale’s financial practices in office led to
an in-house investigation last fall, and has recently prompted the tribal
council to call in a special prosecutor to take over the case.
With the Navajo unemployment rate close to 50 percent, whistleblowing
on the area’s primary employer is uncommon. So when the critical stories
run, Arviso says, "we sell out, a lot of times."
That’s why the editor thinks Hale hasn’t come down harder on the paper.
"Because the people back us, he has to back off," Arviso says.
The president says the newspaper is biased against him.
"All I’m looking for is a balanced story,’’ Hale said. "I have provided
documentation explaining the credit card charges ... but that information
doesn’t get into the paper."
He said the Times seeks out opinions from Hale’s opposition but neglects
to quote his supporters.
"He (Arviso) doesn’t seem to understand that this a Navajo-owned paper.
It’s part of a department. It’s not an independent operation," Hale said.
Word has spread
The clash between Hale and the Navajo press has made headlines in dailies
in Denver, Albuquerque and Phoenix, but has been front-page news in the
Yakama Nation Review, a weekly publication of the Yakama Nation in Washington
and the Northwest’s largest Indian newspaper.
"It’s hot, it’s now and it matters," said Review editor Richard LaCourse
from his office in Toppenish, Wash.
LaCourse, who has researched free press issues in Indian country and
is considered a scholar in this area by his peers, has picked up stories
about Hale on the wire and run them.
"I would need to read all the articles that the Navajo Times has written
on this and assess the value of the charges on both sides before asserting
an opinion," said LaCourse, who says he has only seen the wire stories.
But, he said, "I don’t think tribal ownership gives tribal officials
executive power to exercise prior restraint or censorship simply because
they believe a story is distasteful."
The Yakama Nation Review itself is something of a success story. LaCourse
said he has reported on conflicts within tribal government without repercussions.
He said the newspaper adheres to basic journalistic rules of double-sourcing,
checking sources, securing documentation and giving the accused a chance
to respond.
"I really admire Tom (Arviso) and crew, especially for breaking these
stories," LaCourse said. "That wasn’t done by the Associated Press or The
Arizona Republic."
He said, "I think they’re testing the limits."
Controls common in Native American press
NAJA President Paul DeMain, who once tested the limits as an editor
of a tribal newspaper, started an independent newspaper 10 years ago on
the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in northern Wisconsin. His frustration
with tribal government control was one of the deciding factors.
"It was the most compelling reason outside my own dream to someday own
my own newspaper," said DeMain, chief executive officer of Indian Country
Communications. His business publishes the twice-monthly newspaper News
From Indian Country and other local and regional publications.
News From Indian Country, with a circulation of about 8,000, is distributed
nationwide and in 17 foreign countries and is one of only a handful of
independent Indian newspapers. Lack of advertising revenue on reservations
is the main reason why there are not more privately owned publications.
Before publishing his own paper, DeMain was nearly forced out of his
job as editor of the Lac Courte Oreilles Journal for refusing to allow
the tribal government to review articles before publication.
"Because tribal publications have to operate within the same governmental
organization as the people they cover, it creates a situation that is basically
incompatible for journalists to do their jobs," DeMain said.
"Some native journalists know better than to pursue certain news stories
because it would cause a potential conflict. So they either do a weak job
of reporting the story, or they go after it while looking over their shoulders.
All the while they know they could get fired or get their budget cut" as
a result.
Independence?
There is a bright spot on the horizon for the Navajo Times. On March
11 the Navajo Tribal Council voted to turn the newspaper and the tribe’s
radio station, KTNN, into private enterprises.
Hale said he welcomes the move. His support, however, is motivated by
the "ability to sue the newspaper" after it is out from under political
control.
Arviso says the change to privatization will be a long process — up
to five years until complete independence.
"I would love to see the day when the Navajo Times is truly the newspaper
of the Navajo people," Arviso said. "They could own stock in the newspaper.
It would be Navajo-owned and Navajo-controlled."
Until then, he said, the newspaper can only attempt to be the voice
of the people.
In some respects, the lack of free press protection for reservation
journalists is reminiscent of the times in American history written about
by Levy. It seems ironic that more than 200 years after the First Amendment
was adopted, some Native American journalists would face governmental pressures
similar to those the American press endured two centuries ago. Perhaps
by reflecting on the origin of a free press in American society one can
better understand the challenges facing today’s American Indian press.
Michel, a free-lance writer based in the Chicago area, is past president
of NAJA. Previously, she worked at The Dallas Morning News and the La
Crosse (Wis.) Tribune as a reporter.
