Sitting in the Ithaca College pub, I was brainstorming with my friends about my next blog post. What would I talk about this week regarding independent media?
"What about Indian tribes?" said Jason MacDermott, a junior anthropology major at IC. "If independent media is about voices being silenced my mainstream media than I think that's a perfect example."
I couldn't agree more.
In mainstream media, the Indian tribe community and native Americans are largely ignored. In fact, they are largely ignored in history books as well (the story of Thanksgiving is not as friendly as elementary school made us think). However, because of this dark past, blogger Delvin Cree states that journalism is difficult for writers today who want to report news within reservation boundaries.
Let's look at the story of Bill Lawrence.
According to Cree, "Bill's effort in exposing the truth of what was happening on Minnesota reservations made
someone mad enough to shoot bullets through his office windows in
Bemidji. Even though an act of violence took place, he continued to be
one one of the nation's most ferocious tribal government watchdogs."
He even won the Freedom of Information award in 2003 from the Society of Professional Journalists for his investigative reporting. But what is happening currently within this beat? I explored IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com to find out.
The site covers world news, politics, business, veterans, the environment and more, all from the Indian perspective. This perspective is largely unheard, but this media organization is trying to give voice to this silenced population.
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