Indian Country Today became a national publication in 1994. Tim Giago rebranding his very successful Lakota Times launched in 1981 and began hiring freelancers, opened a Washington Bureau, and at one point, had editions printed across the country. (Giago is being honored this year for his legacy by the Native American Journalists Association.) Then in 1998 Giago sold his paper to the Oneida Nation of New York.
This was interesting because Giago had championed private ownership of the media. Giago’s career has been defined by his independence.
But I suspect his thinking was a tribal owner would have deeper pockets and could transcend the problem of money and time. And with Indian Country Today you can make that case. There was a lot of excellent reporting done over the years.
But the money and time paradox did not go away. In 2011 Indian Country Today became Indian Country Today Media Network, a digital publication. Then, not long ago, Indian Country tried another direction, returning to print with a magazine. I’ll admit: I immediately subscribed hoping that it would work.
But print in any form is a tough business. I can only imagine how much it cost. So it’s not a surprise to learn that Indian Country Today is moving into hiatus status this week [Sept. 1], (a scoop by Victor Rocha’s Pechanga.Net) while it looks for a buyer. That’s not likely when you’re not publishing because the value drops the instant you stop creating. Hard truth.
Indian Country still has remarkable talent and media outlets. Rocha’s Pechanga.net is a digital peek at the day. Indianz is a must read for breaking news. And there is Native News Online.
The problem is that none of these vehicles have deep pockets. That means there is little or no money for the writers, photographers, and artists, who create content. And that’s what we need: Money for ideas. A fund that values writers no matter where their content surfaces.
It’s great that social media broadcasts what we write to a larger audience. But articles that are researched, vetted, edited, get the same traction as pieces that are invented. We need to support serious work — and Indian Country Today for all its faults did just that.
Then, one survivor in the Native media world is News From Indian Country. It’s private. Independent. It’s profitable. (Disclosure: I own a few shares and I serve on the board.) And, it’s small. News From Indian Country works because it keeps expenses in check. It still serves print readers (although much fewer than a few years ago) has an online presence and uses YouTube and other social media to get its stories out in new forms.
If time and money are the two big challenges, there is a now a third one, change. The media world is changing so fast that it is nearly impossible to develop and execute a strategy. Media companies all around the world are trying to figure that one out. And if and when they do … the landscape changes again.
I’ve seen this firsthand with Trahant Reports. My content is free so it can be used by any media. My goal is to get serious public policy discussions in front of tribal citizens and I figure the best way to that is to let every publication have access. (So even competitors run the same story.) But I am only one person so it’s not a lot of material compared to a news organization.
It’s easy to examine any news organization and see how things could be different. We think: There are a hundred ways Indian Country Today could have made it. And that’s just as true when I look at my own failed media enterprises — and I have a check list of those — and then I think “if only.”
If only we had more money for creators. If only we had more funders. If only … never mind. There will be new media enterprises. And new failures. Along the way there will be beautiful moments.
Mark Trahant is the Charles R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Journalism at the University of North Dakota. He is an independent journalist and a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. On Twitter @TrahantReports
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