Last Updated: November 09, 1999
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Diversity
Because so few daily newspaper journalists are Native
American, losing even a few makes their percentage of the whole take a
dive; most reservations are near small dailies
In 1989, the year I went to work for the Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald,
I joined 146 other Native American journalists working at daily newspapers,
according to the annual ASNE survey of newsroom employment.
In 1998, after several years of steady growth in minority employment,
I was one of 256 Native American journalists working in daily newspapers
— a 75 percent increase.
But between the 1998 and 1999 surveys, something happened that alarms
me about the future: 15 Native Americans working in daily newspapers left.
That’s 6 percent.
In the newspaper industry, which annually celebrates fractional increases
in the numbers of journalists of color working at daily papers, a 6 percent
drop should be a cry for alarm.
As a past president of both the Native American Journalists Association
and Unity: Journalists of Color, I wonder where the red flags are.
I have some more alarming numbers. Although these percentages will obviously
make fun of the number crunching that characterizes much of the newspaper
industry’s work to diversify newsrooms, they will also demonstrate the
magnitude of the crisis daily newspapers have in keeping experienced Native
American journalists.
Two of the 15 Native American journalists who quit daily journalism
in that period are board members of NAJA.
When photojournalist Mary Annette Pember quit to pursue free-lance work,
the number of Native American photojournalists at daily newspapers dropped
by 25 percent. When reporter Ben Winton left to edit Native Peoples magazine,
the percentage of Native journalists who had covered presidential elections
for a daily paper plummeted by at least 50, if not 100 percent.
These journalists and others who left daily newspapers were important
role models for younger journalists and journalism students. Without them
in newspapers, who will encourage the young Native American journalists?
The most common reasons that Native Americans say they are frustrated
with daily newspapers include racially hostile newsroom cultures, lack
of opportunities for professional growth and the desire to work in increasingly
sophisticated Native publications.
It’s in our own best interest as daily newspaper journalists to stop
this exodus.
American daily newspapers will fail in their efforts to diversify if
they do not include the original people of this continent. They will fail
in their efforts to accurately tell the stories of the whole America until
Native Americans are included in the news like everyone else.
And daily newspapers will fail to represent the true ethnic diversity
of each locality without Native American journalists, whose tribes own
up to one-fifth of many Western states and whose populations — though small
and sometimes remote — are spread from coast to coast.
Forty percent of daily newspapers, primarily small dailies in rural
areas, fail to employ any journalists of color.
Many Native American journalists, some of whom work for tribal-owned
media, prefer to live in small towns because they can be close to their
families. And, in some cases, close to inherited land and houses on their
reservations.
Many of those journalists would welcome job opportunities at daily newspapers
smaller then 50,000 circulation if it meant living close to a Native American
population.
Native American populations are not wedded to city living in the way
other communities of color are. The 1990 census (see map) showed 50 percent
of our total population lived in rural areas. In the middle of this century,
large numbers of Native American left their reservation for cities seeking
work. Some predict that the next census will show that Native Americans
are moving to their home reservations in large numbers because for the
first time jobs are being created on reservations by casino operations.
That tells me that good jobs at small daily newspapers may also lure
Native Americans journalists home.
One newspaper stands above the crowd in its pursuit of Native
American journalists: the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald.
In the late 1980s, editor Mike Jacobs turned to Native Americans, the
only local community of color. He recruited three young men from nearby
tribal newspapers, all of whom spent five or more years learning and working
at the Herald before moving on to jobs at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer,
the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. These
Native journalists spent a significant amount of time at the paper.
The paper has since recruited the mother of one of the young men. Doreen
Yellow Bird carries the title community journalist.
She came to the Herald with a background in tribal radio and community
organizing, including several years experience at a national organization
of tribal leaders. Her writing skills and knowledge exceeded those of the
average journalism school graduate. She easily picked up the finer points
of writing in the style of newspapers at the myriad of journalism association
seminars.
Native American communities are filled with leaders who need jobs and
have important skills and local knowledge that could be translated into
daily journalism. And with all of our resources for training, not the least
of which is NAJA, surely a creative editor could see the value of training
talented people for work as a daily newspaper journalist.
Of course, journalism schools and NAJA remain a key source of Native
American journalists. NAJA trains and provides scholarships for upwards
of 40 journalism students each year.
What concerns me is that some of these journalists struggle to find
summer internships and first jobs afterwards because, according to ASNE’s
survey, the number of internships and first jobs for journalists of color
is dropping.
However, NAJA continues its good work. Last year NAJA obtained a grant
for a pilot project that identifies potential Native American journalists
in high school, introduces them to newspapers, helps them through college
and mentors them through their first two years of newspaper employment.
This program — if newspapers will partner with NAJA — will be ready
for the next generation of Native Americans (40 percent of whom are under
18).
I hope that generation of journalists, with its advantages of strength
in tribal cultures and better education, will join newspapers in greater
numbers.
Because when it becomes less unusual to have a Native American — or
other minority — in the newsroom, it won’t matter so much if a few leave
to get new jobs.
Briggs, a past president of the Native American Journalists Association
and Unity: Journalists of Color, is a reporter for The Oregonian, Portland.
