A reporter needs patience, personal connections and an understanding of tribal sovereignty to effectively cover Indian Country.
Those were among the tips panelists at the April 8 Native Americans and The Media seminar offered to about 30 participants, who came from as far away as Alamogordo to attend the afternoon event at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. “I found it very helpful,” said Duane Barbati, staff writer at the Alamogordo Daily News.
Barbati and his colleagues have a big challenge covering long distances to reach communities in Otero County and the Mescalero Apache tribe.
Rick Romancito, Taos Pueblo and editor of the arts magazine Tempo for The Taos News, organized the event with the help of other SPJ-Rio Grande Chapter board members. Romancito said it is important to cover pueblos and tribes with the same devotion to detail and fact finding as any other beat. But, he said, reporters have to remember the rules are different within each pueblo or tribe. Take time to learn and be respectful of how things are done in Indian Country before diving into hard-hitting stories, he said.
Romancito was joined by panelists Antonia Gonzales, anchor and producer for National Native News, Kim Baca, who runs her own public relations consulting firm working with tribes, and Felicia Fonseca, who covers the Navajo Nation for The Associated Press. They gave advice to listeners about what works, and what doesn’t, in covering pueblos and tribes.
Here are some of their tips:
- Understand sovereignty issues and who has jurisdiction on tribal lands.
- Every pueblo and tribe is different; take time to learn the history and culture of each before writing stories.
- Go visit and get to know people before doing stories. Build relationships by attending feast days, school functions, art exhibits and other events, but leave the notebook in the car at first.
- Remember the pueblo leaders (governor, war chief and staff) in New Mexico usually change every year. Get to know the new leaders each year. Start a tradition such as offering to take the official portraits or inviting them to lunch after they have been in office a few weeks.
- Get to know tribal secretaries. The leadership may change but secretaries tend to be there for years.
- Be patient. Things rarely happen quickly in Indian Country.
- Do some human interest and positive stories before taking on ones that may rub pueblo leaders the wrong way.
- First Amendment rights don’t work the same on Indian land as they do off.
- If you can’t get information about how federal money has been used from tribal or pueblo officials, ask for the data through the federal agency that manages the grant or loan.
- Avoid “drive-by journalism”, says Romancito. Make time to interview people in person. That’s good advice for covering any story in any beat.
- Use social media to find sources and story ideas.
There are a ton of stories waiting to be discovered in Indian Country, said Gonzales. Here are a few Website to check for background, ideas and information.
All Indian Pueblo Council, www.20pueblos.org
Indian Country Today, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Indianz.net (a news aggregator), www.indianz.com
National Native News, nativenews.net
Native America Calling, www.nativeamericacalling.com
New Mexico Pueblos, www.santafenm.info/pueblos.htm
National Congress of American Indians, www.ncai.org