A national commission is calling on the federal government to declare a “Decade of Action and Healing” regarding the public safety crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. The commission issued a report listing its many findings, including problems of reporting and collecting data. The U.S. Interior and Justice departments issued a joint response in early March.

“No one should have to experience the loss of a loved one — let alone losses across generations — due to the lack of resources, jurisdictional complexities or unnecessary bureaucracy,” wrote Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in a joint statement released in a 231-page report on March 5.

To acknowledge the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous persons, the two federal agencies responded to recommendations of the Not Invisible Act Commission, or NIAC. In its 212-page Not One More report released Nov. 1, 2023, the commission pointed to the federal government’s historic failure to uphold trust responsibilities to Native people.

The report includes seven chapters of findings and recommendations. Chapter 2 addresses reporting and collecting data on missing, murdered and trafficked persons including 16 findings related to data collection.

“Accurate data on Native Americans are necessary for federal, state, local, and Tribal governments to monitor conditions and make informed policy and spending decisions. Unfortunately, there is a lack of available data at all levels of government but especially at the national level to ascertain the extent of the problem,” wrote subcommittee members.

The NIAC and Indian Law and Order Commission recommended the federal government generate accurate crime reports for Indian Country.

The Justice and Interior departments responded that DOJ “has been making steady improvements in crime reporting since the Indian Law and Order Commission released its recommendations. Since 2016, when the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting, UUCR, Program began its transition to the National Incident-Based Reporting System, NIBRS, only reporting, the FBI has collaborated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to encourage and assist Tribal agencies to report NIBRS data.”

Overall, the Not Invisible Act subcommittee issued 14 data-related recommendations to the Interior and Justice departments, ranging from the federal government’s need to generate accurate crime reports for Indian Country and completing an audit of systems and sources that collect data on missing American Indian/Alaska Native persons.

Not Invisible Act commissioners wrote: “There is a crisis in tribal communities. A crisis of violence, a crisis of abuse, and a crisis of abject neglect affecting Indian women and men, Indian children, and Indian elders. The federal government must act now; not tomorrow; not next week; not next month; and not next year. Once and for all, the federal government must end its systematic failure to address this crisis and react, redress, and resolve this. We call on the federal government to declare a ‘Decade of Action and Healing’ to address the crisis of missing, murdered and trafficked Indian people.”

The report confirms one of the biggest roadblocks experienced by journalists reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous people – a lack of reliable or accessible data.

The public safety crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples reaches far beyond advocates, federal agencies and myriad law enforcement workers. A survey by the First Nations Development Institute recently listed missing and murdered Indigenous women as the top concern of voters in the 2024 election season.

Despite being the smallest percentage of the population, Indigenous people rank among the second highest number of reported missing and murdered persons, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. At least 11 states with Indigenous communities have launched initiatives concentrated on improving communication, data and resources.

Journalists on the frontlines of reporting on murdered and missing Indigenous persons need a central database to accurately report on this ongoing crisis in Indian Country.

Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Muscogee Creek Nation), executive director of the Indigenous Journalists Association, underscored the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty – the collection, ownership, and application of data being managed by organizations rooted in community as a best practice for protecting Indigenous people and resources.

“Indigenous journalism by and for Indigenous peoples is a key driver of self-determination and to fully realize that we must ensure that our data and histories are accurately represented within the media landscape. Expanding access to accurate news and information is essential to healthy democracies across tribal, local, state, and national levels, and a centralized database would be a critical reporting resource for all journalists covering the MMIP crisis,” Landsberry-Baker said.

IJA President Christine Trudeau (Prairie Band Potawatomi) added that a centralized and comprehensive MMIP database is long overdue. “This is the monumental breakthrough needed to better cover this ongoing crisis, and we need it now.”

The NIAC’s report illustrates how the lack of comprehensive, quality data has hidden how severe the missing and murdered Indigenous people’s issue is across Native American communities. Although the Justice Department declares it “has been making steady improvements in crime reporting”, it’s clear progress is slow and inadequate.

A central database managed by a neutral party, such as the Indigenous Journalists Association (formerly the Native American Journalists Association), is needed due to the existing lack of standardized reporting protocols across competing legal jurisdictions.

SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to informing citizens; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and fights to protect First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. Support excellent journalism and fight for your right to know. Become a member, give to the Legal Defense Fund or give to the SPJ Foundation.

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, SPJ Freedom of Information Committee Chair, jodispottedbear@gmail.com

Kim Tsuyuki, SPJ Communications Specialist, ktsuyuki@hq.spj.org

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The missing and murdered Indigenous person crisis calls for Indigenous data sovereignty

Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance board members recently gathered for a strategic planning meeting. Chief among the core values identified during the meeting -- to be Indigenous and serve the underrepresented Indigenous populations. Who better to know and understand the voice of Native people and deafness of mainstream media to it than leaders within our communities.\

“The IMFA board of directors play a central role in thoughtfully guiding the organization,” said Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, IMFA founder and executive director. “This year, we hit the reset button and better defined our vision and mission statement with the guidance of our trusted directors.”

Veteran journalism professionals and educators on the IMFA board were led by board member Tim Harjo with his wealth of experience in non-profit moderation. The big takeaway for the weekend was a refined Vision and Mission:

A world where democracy thrives for Indigenous people through a free and independent press. 
The Alliance improves the civil liberties of Indigenous people through research, advocacy, and nation building by employing the core values of integrity, inclusivity and transparency. 

Joining Harjo, a citizen of the Fort Sill Apache, Comanche and Seminole, at the Santa Fe, New Mexico Retreat were board members Montoya Whiteman, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Paula Peters, Mashpee Wampanoag, Ruth Buffalo, Mandan-Hidatsa, Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, Mandan-Hidatsa and Minniconjou Lakota and Jamie Folsom, Choctaw.

“For an organization that is moving into its next phase of growth, the retreat was a great opportunity for us to share our sincere hopes for the future of our communities.” Said Folsom, “I came away with renewed commitment to making a free and independent press a reality for our people.”

Contemporary Indigenous communities suffer twofold from a lack of coverage in the mainstream media and stifled voices in tribal government-controlled media.

“In Tribal communities governments are historically not transparent and citizens are discouraged from speaking out, that culture has to change,” said Peters “There is no freedom of the press where voices are stifled and that lends to a lack of accountability.”

To address this IMFA will turn to the three pillars of sovereignty identified by Vine Deloria, Jr., to encouraging self-determination, protection of sacred places and spaces, and leadership in accordance with the will of the people. Getting there will require a broad dissemination of information on what is happening within their own governments and encouraging civic participation.

The board also recognized the need to identify alliances both in the journalism industry and in educational institutions where there is a need to recruit more tribal scholars for media and democracy research.

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IMFA Strategic Planning

It’s been several years since we designed our first logo. We were a new organization without an image to represent the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. I had attended a nonprofit organization workshop and they had a presenter on hand who was helping folks with marketing.

I had a few rough design ideas on paper. The presenter worked with me on the logo design. I left the event with a round, global type logo with a feather inside. I was pretty happy with it and it remained our one and only logo. The IMFA received its nonprofit status in June 2016.

We have been using the logo on the IMFA website pretty much since our founding. For the most part, our website has been fairly static since we first went online. We have occasionally updated the site with new board members, but not much has changed in years. That’s because we put most of our focus on the IMFA’s digital news site, buffalsofire.com.

As we’ve grown, and matured a bit, we realized the old logo no longer reflected our goals and mission. Our logo looked like a globe, and our tagline read: Your Global Right to be Heard and Informed. While we believe everyone around the world does have the right to be seen, to be heard, we are directing our attention a little closer to home.

We’re also playing up to our updated our vision and mission statements, recently revised by the IMFA board of directors at last fall’s strategic planning retreat in Santa Fe, N.M.

Our vision: A world where democracy thrive for Indigenous people through an independent press.

Our Mission: The Alliance improves the civil liberties of Indigenous people through research, advocacy, and nation building by employing the core values of integrity, inclusivity and transparency.

At our core, we are working to help our communities thrive by listening to people and being responsive to what we’re hearing. We want to help our communities practice freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and have better access to freedom of information. It’s in our name, the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance.

So, when we decided to hit reset on our IMFA logo, our directive to our designer was to evoke the feeling of freedom, of movement. Our secondary goal was to connect the image, somehow, to our Buffalo’s Fire logo. We’re confident our mission was accomplished. We hope you think so, too.

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Unveiling the new Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance logo

The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) has selected Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation / Lakota) as the inaugural 2023 Tim Giago Free Press Award recipient, which recognizes an individual NAJA member that has shown dedication and commitment to upholding freedom of the press, information and transparency within their Indigenous community.

As one of the founders of the former Native American Press Association in 1983, Giago has shaped NAJA’s mission, which has always focused on uniting and empowering Indigenous media and championing accurate journalism. Giago passed in 2022 and the NAJA Board created the award to honor his legacy of fighting for press freedom in Indigenous communities.

Spotted Bear was selected for her work as a citizen and journalist in holding the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation accountable through her reporting on the tribal government and raising awareness regarding its transparency issues.

Spotted Bear is president of the Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information (SPJ FOI) Committee, which gave the 2023 SPJ FOI Black Hole Award to the Three Affiliated Tribes’ Mark Fox administration, the first ever to a tribal government.

According to the SPJ FOI release, although the TAT Constitution and Bylaws state that money spent from the Tribal Business Council fund is a matter of public record, citizens were not provided with a copy of the TAT’s 2018 audit or any other audit upon requests. Citizens received a 2018 copy through a leak, when it was discovered that the auditing firm issued two adverse opinions and four disclaimed opinions. Furthermore, to the public’s knowledge, the tribe has not conducted an annual audit since 2018, despite the requirement in the TAT Constitution and Bylaws.

Beyond the alleged violations of the tribe’s own laws regarding transparency, TAT officials have also been implicated in illegal fiscal activity, which involved bribery between a contractor and tribe officials. The administration also purchased property for $90-125 million and did not inform the citizens until the deal was finalized.

The NAJA Special Awards Committee is comprised of current and former NAJA board members and past NAJA Special Award winners. As a NAJA board member, Spotted Bear was not involved in the 2023 review process.

“As one of our founding members and a dogged journalist and writer, Tim is someone who many NAJA members have looked up to or been inspired by over our 40 years as an organization,” NAJA President Graham Lee Brewer said. “This award pays homage to him and his work by recognizing the commitment to freedom of press in Indian Country that he embodied.”

Spotted Bear serves as a board member for the SPJ Foundation and an at-large director for SPJ where she chairs the SPJ FOI Committee. After working in the mainstream press for 15 years, she is now the founder and executive director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit media organization located in Bismarck, N.D. The Alliance operates Buffalo’s Fire, an independent digital news site.

In 2003, Spotted Bear received the Nieman Fellowship for journalists at Harvard University and was selected in 2021 as a Bush Fellow in recognition of her commitment to journalism within Indigenous communities. She was awarded the 2020-2021 MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the John S. Knight Community Impact Fellow at Stanford University in 2021. Her writing is featured in “The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity,” published by Columbia University Press.

Spotted Bear will be recognized during the 2023 National Native Media Awards Banquet Aug. 12 as part of the 2023 National Native Media Conference Aug. 10-12 at the RBC Convention Center in downtown Winnipeg.

Buffalo's Fire publisher to be awarded Tim Giago Free Press Award

For those of us who work in journalism, there is not a day that passes that we don’t see vividly how newsrooms are shrinking and how local news deserts are negatively impacting people.

So when a group of foundation leaders and heads of philanthropic organizations announced the Press Forward initiative to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support local news, those of us who work in the field didn’t hesitate to applaud. After all, we need many more funders to understand that local news is vital to the health and sustainability of our democracy. A growing number of people are vulnerable to becoming victims of disinformation and misinformation masquerading as credible local and national news.

As the much-anticipated initiative to fortify local news ecosystems rolls out, we think it's important to remember just what is “local news” and who are the people who have long been providing it.

The organizations that have signed this open letter represent, support, train and serve many of the journalists, leaders and founders of color who are essential to the sustainability of healthy, equitable and trustworthy local news ecosystems.

Philanthropy has a responsibility to be inclusive, intentional and transparent about how funding from this initiative is distributed. It is no secret that BIPOC-led organizations are awarded less grant money and are less trusted with how to spend that money when compared to white-led institutions. A recent study of 103 publishers of color and outlets serving “racial, ethnic, or linguistic communities” revealed that 53 percent of them will be out of business in less than five years if current revenue trends persist.” In effect, that would undermine the stated objectives of the Press Forward initiative.

Our organizations have come together to advocate on behalf of Asian, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and other people of color who have historically been neglected, misrepresented or tokenized. Engaging our people and our communities in Press Forward will be vital to its success and credibility. In many of the country’s most populous regions and cities, communities of color account for the majority demographic.

We are pleased to see that the funding priorities of the Press Forward initiative include “improving diversity of experience and thought.” As this initiative unfolds and decisions are made about where support is directed, we want to be clear: Racial and ethnic diversity, equity and belonging must be among the pillars of its foundation. An equitable distribution of resources and opportunities ensures that underrepresented voices are heard and elevated by journalists, leaders and publishers who know them best.

Align funding priorities with the demographic shifts occurring across our nation by investing in trusted leaders, publishers, journalists and organizations serving communities of color.

Consider as a foundational criteria for all newsrooms that their organizations, including leadership, are reflective of the communities they serve.

Break the cycle of disinvestment and the disproportionate investment in white leaders and organizations with under-representation of people of color.

Racial and ethnic diversity fosters trust between media outlets and underrepresented communities. When people see themselves and their experiences reflected in the news, they are more likely to engage with it and view journalism as a credible and valuable resource. We know from research done by the Trust Project that one of the indicators of trustworthiness on the part of news consumers is the inclusion of diverse voices.

If philanthropy is not intentional about addressing historical funding inequities and the processes by which they persist, it is complicit in the harm they inflict. At a time when we are seeing intentional and structural attacks on marginalized communities gain momentum in our society, this would be unacceptable.

Significant investment in the people, publications, and organizations that serve an increasingly diverse society must be made with clear-eyed intention. We commend the support many of the foundations that are part of this initiative have contributed to news ecosystems. We stand ready to help this effort any way we can; we are watching it with enthusiasm, with vigilance and concern.

As philanthropic stakeholders dedicated to supporting the growth and sustainability of local news, your commitment to these values can help shape not only the future of journalism, but also the broader fabric of our society.

Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, Executive Director, Asian American Journalists Association

Nicole Dungca, National Board President, Asian American Journalists Association

Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Executive Director, Indigenous Journalists Association

Christine Trudeau, President, Indigenous Journalists Association

Ken Lemon, President, National Association of Black Journalists

Yvette Cabrera, President, Board of Directors, National Association of Hispanic Journalists

Vision25: Racial Equity in Journalism Partners

John X. Miller, Chair, Board of Directors, Maynard Institute

Evelyn Hsu & Martin G. Reynolds, Co-executive directors, Maynard Institute

LaSharah S. Bunting, CEO and Executive Director, Online News Association

Open Letter to Press Forward from AAJA, IJA, NABJ, NAJH, Maynard Institute, ONA and Open News

Today, we celebrate U.S. Democracy Day with a gift to the community. We are launching the inewsource Documenters, a new program based on a very old idea: Democracy works best when everyone is engaged and involved.

The Documenters will give all of you – and your children and grandchildren – an opportunity to witness local government at work and get paid for it. The program is built on the fact that public meetings such as city councils, water boards and school boards are workshops for democracy, where residents can observe, learn about and act on the systems that impact their lives.

Many urgent, local issues are aired and decided at public meetings, often without oversight by the local media, which has been painfully shrinking. The slow bleed will continue, especially in light of the sale of the region’s information bedrock, the Union-Tribune, to a vulture capital company.

inewsource has been working for more than a year to bring the Documenters program to San Diego as a key part of our new Community Engagement Lab. We’ve raised money to run the program, hire staff and to train and pay what we hope will be a legion of Documenters in this county. Imagine: hundreds of everyday folks, proudly wearing a Documenters badge, taking notes at public meetings and posting them on a website for all to see.

Thank you to our local partners making this new program possible: Conrad Prebys Foundation, James Silberrad Brown Foundation, Parker Foundation, and Richard and Carol Hertzberg.

We foresee high school and college students getting first-hand experience with local government in action. We see parents watchdogging school board officials and flagging issues that should be further investigated. We see seniors putting their life experience to work at public meetings where important decisions are made but are rarely attended.

Documenters was incubated at a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago, and thousands of people across 11 cities have gone through Documenters training. They attend public meetings, and post their notes on a special Documenters website. They are making local government more transparent and accessible by surfacing issues that might otherwise die in the dark. And their presence sends a message to public officials that what they say and do is being watched and magnified on the web and on social media.

Here is how the Documenters will work here:

All public meetings will be listed in one place on the Documenters website.

People interested in becoming a Documenter will be trained by our staff and volunteers on all aspects of public meetings. How do you read an agenda? How do you find support materials for items on the agenda? How do you act, where do you sit, where do you submit your notes?

Documenters will choose a public meeting they want to attend. As independent contractors, they will be paid $20 an hour for prep time, meeting attendance and note posting. (If you need help with transportation, you can talk to us to make arrangements.) You will receive a byline on your notes.

The program manager and an assistant will coordinate the Documenters’ time, edit notes and post on the website.

Because San Diego County is such a big place, we are starting the Documenters program in the southern neighborhoods of San Diego and across the South Bay, areas of our county where important community stories are often overlooked by traditional media. Once we are up and running, we will welcome suggestions for expansion to other cities and communities.

We are working with City Bureau in Chicago to build out the San Diego County part of the Documenters website, where there will be a listing of all the public meetings we hope will be attended.

Based on the experience of other Documenters programs, we are soaring with excitement and confidence. Here are some success stories from this new type of participatory media from around the country:

In Detroit, a voter guide created by Documenters was republished by Michigan Public Radio and the Metro Times.

In Minneapolis, testimony from the local program led to the board of taxation and estimates designating funding for live streaming their public meetings in 2023.

In Fresno, the only other California Documenters program, public actions were illuminated by Documenters and followed up on by trained journalists. These examples include: a potential move of services by the VA; a neighborhood rezoning concern; and how a threatened salamander changed a developer’s plan.

In Cleveland, the Documenters team is now leading a new nonprofit newsroom, the Ohio Local News Initiative, and Cleveland’s field coordinator was invited to be a moderator for the city’s mayoral debate.

We hope you are as excited about this opportunity as we are. To find out more about the Documenters, check out the main website where San Diego County will be listed soon.If you’d like to comment on the program or let us know of your early interest, please contact us at documenters@inewsource.org.

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces.

Democracy in action

In a near perfect world, the Fourth Estate would flourish in American Indian communities and elected leaders would adopt freedom of information laws. Those tribal statesmen might sound like this respect-the- press leader from the Pacific Northwest:

"The right to a free press, to objective unbiased reporting, may very well be just as important to democracy as the right to vote. In fact, even the right to vote, a defining feature of democracy, can be severely weakened if voters have no idea what is really going on in their government.

"Governments which wage war on journalists and journalism in general seldom have the best interests of their citizenry in mind. Tribal leaders should recognize that. A free press is a gift to the people, one that says as a tribal leader you are committed to letting the truth out there," said Vice Chair Chris Mercier, an elected leader of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

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Tribal Leaders and the Fourth Estate

The Road Map for Local News interviewed 51 individuals from across the country who are with non-profit, commercial media across all forms of distribution, leaders of member organizations, news networks, news funders and researchers. Their goal was to get their perspectives on what they thought were the needs on how to better our local news sources for our communities.

In 2022 from June to September they had seven interviewers who had spoken to the 51 individuals. Jodi Spotted Bear, our executive Director for IMFA, was selected as one of the individuals. As you may know, IMFA is a non-profit organization that does local news for North Dakota and surrounding states. She stated, “This lack of information contributes to an onslaught of social, educational and economic ills that are plaguing our communities.”

The Uprising of Local News

The first amendment in the United States’ Constitution states that Congress will not abridge freedom of the press — a key tenet of democracy that protects journalists’ missions to hold truth to power, free of government influence and censorship. But of the 574 federally recognized Tribes, only five have laws that protect a free and independent press.

“One thing I've learned is that Indigenous communities, we really can't rely on mainstream press to tell our stories with accuracy and with authenticity. It’s really on us to do that,” said panelist Bryan Pollard. “But our jobs become much, much harder when we don’t have an independent voice.”

At the ScienceWriters2023 national meeting in Boulder, Colorado, freelance journalist Virginia Gewin moderated a plenary session called “Indigenous Media Freedom” (#TribalPressFreedom) on October 9. The panel consisted of three Indigenous journalists: Pollard, grant operations manager at the Associated Press; Francine Compton, associate director of the Indigenous Journalists Association; and Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. The plenary was organized in partnership with the Indigenous Journalists Association with NASW member Virginia Gewin.

ScienceWriters2023 plenary shines light on fight for Indigenous media freedoms

Report for America has announced the selection of dozens of new host newsroom partners while opening applications for just over 50 new reporting corps positions across the United States.

“We have placed a bet on these newsrooms, that with our help they will become beacons of the whole industry,” said Kim Kleman, executive director of Report for America. “They know the coverage they need to better serve their communities. With our help recruiting talented early-career journalists, paying part of their salary, and working with newsrooms to become more sustainable, we expect exciting results.”

Newsrooms were asked to define the most compelling gaps in their coverage. Based on feedback from the field:

More than half will cover diverse communities

Nearly half will report on the environment

Some 35% of the positions will focus on rural communities

The selected newsrooms add 11 new positions as part of the Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk. Seven beats involve statehouse coverage for The Associated Press. The positions also include a new partnership with the North Carolina Collaborative, led by Scalawag Magazine and The Assembly, which will bring a strong new local news cohort to North Carolina with reporters at five outlets: The Assembly, IndyWeek, CityView Today, Blue Ridge Public Radio, and WHQR.

The full list of new newsrooms and beats can be found 

Now that the newsroom selections have been made, Report for America is seeking talented, service-minded journalists and photographers to join its reporting corps—a two-year program (with an option for three years) that delivers a wide range of benefits to its corps members.

Significant Beats: Report for America corps members cover a variety of beats, including healthcare, statehouse, climate, education, city hall, local business, communities of color, sports, religion, photography, and more.

Training and Mentorship: Report for America offers more than 70 training sessions per year, from experienced journalists and other experts, helping corps members sharpen their skills. We also pair you with a national mentor at the top of their game for additional skill-based/coverage gap-related support.

All-Around Support: In addition to a robust peer network of fellow corps members who are covering similar beats and living in nearby towns, Report for America’s regional managers—deeply experienced, award-winning journalists— are assigned to support every corps member and partner newsroom.

Community Service: Corps members volunteer their time on a student journalism or youth media project. The goal is to support the media literacy of young people by helping them produce stories about the world around them.

Springboard to Career Success: Report for America graduates get hired by their newsrooms or by other regional, national, and international outlets. Corps members win dozens of state, regional, and national awards.

“Report for America invites journalists from diverse backgrounds to weave their unique narratives into the fabric of local newsrooms. With a dedicated beat as their canvas, these storytellers ensure that every community’s voice is heard and critical issues are amplified,” said Earl Johnson, vice president of recruitment and alumni engagement at Report for America. “Through Report for America, journalists find not just a job but a calling—a perfect opportunity to make a profound difference where it matters most.”

The deadline to apply is Jan. 31, 2024. Report for America is hosting several information sessions between now and then. To learn more, visit reportforamerica.org/apply or contact a member of the recruitment team at recruitment@reportforamerica.org.

Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities across the United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and restore trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.

Buffalo’s Fire site selected as newsroom host of Report for America

Indigenous people are often called the invisible minority. Centuries of genocide have silenced generations of voices.

At the same time, the mainstream press has never been fully present to consistently, accurately, or fearlessly tell Indigenous stories. Within the decade, ample research on Indigenous media, financing, and experimental discoveries should lead to a more robust independent American Indian media ecosystem.

As one of the most overlooked U.S. constituencies, Native peoples must be part of an emergent media collective power. In a multi-stakeholder event held this April that included North American Indigenous journalists, the United Nations identified at least a half dozen actions needed to create “an enabling environment for free and independent Indigenous community media.”

The Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance and its digital news site Buffalo’s Fire is an answer to the call for a free and independent Indigenous media. Buffalo’s Fire is the first nonprofit news organization in North Dakota. IMFA is also one of the few Native-led, Native-founded nonprofit news organizations in the United States. Through local reporting, we’re telling stories the mainstream media has continually failed to write about.

Mainstream press researchers have a plethora of media archives to sift through to complete their work, and they must undertake that work with American Indian communities to help define how a healthy media ecosystem and a healthy democracy go hand in hand.

This piece is a part of the Civic Media Series: A project of The Objective and Free Press, with members of the Future of Local News Collective. You can read the series introduction here or read more pieces from the series here.

Native peoples must be part of an emergent media collective power

MacArthur Foundation on Dec. 18 announced $48 million in grants to support pooled and aligned grantmaking in support of Press Forward, a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than $500 million over the next five years.

Press Forward was launched by a coalition of donors earlier this year and is centered on four funding priorities:

Strengthening local newsrooms that have the trust of local communities;

Improving infrastructure for local news production and dissemination;

Closing longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice; and

Advancing policies that expand access to local news and information.

“Journalism, particularly local journalism, is the fabric of our democracy, the medium through which we strengthen communities, tell stories that build shared understanding, and hold power to account,” said MacArthur President John Palfrey. “Twenty percent of Americans live in ‘news deserts,’ areas without reliable coverage of local issues. Press Forward aims to reverse that trend and confront this lack of credible information that contributes to a growing divide in America, declining civic engagement, and distrust in its institutions.”

The largest of MacArthur’s initial grants, $32.5 million, will go to a national pooled fund for local news, housed at The Miami Foundation to provide a way for donors of all sizes and types to partner in this shared effort.

MacArthur has also launched a new grantmaking strategy to support local news in alignment with Press Forward to provide direct grants to news organizations and outlets, each of which are also being supported by at least one other Press Forward funding partner. The first of those grants, which will provide infrastructure support and shared services, along with direct support for eight local newsrooms, are:

100 Days in Appalachia will receive $1 million through the Rural Digital Youth Resiliency Project to support its news reporting on issues of significance to residents of Appalachia, with an emphasis on reaching young people and leading a community of practice, providing security and safety training, and other support services for reporters covering extremism.

Buffalo’s Fire will receive $350,000 through the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance to support its North Dakota news reporting on the Fort Berthold and Twin Buttes communities, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations.

Catchlight will receive $1 million for its support of visual storytellers working for local news outlets across the United States, supplementing vital reporting with images intended to deepen understanding of local issues.

Charlottesville Tomorrow will receive $350,000 to support its reporting that serves residents underserved or misrepresented by media.

Conecta Arizona will receive $350,000 for its reporting and engagement activities serving the Spanish-speaking residents of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora.

Documented will receive $500,000 for its accountability, investigative and engagement reporting on issues affecting the immigrant communities of New York City.

El Tímpano will receive $500,000 for its reporting on, with, and for the Latinx and Indigenous Mayan immigrants in the San Francisco Bay area.

Enlace Latino NC will receive $350,000 for its accountability, investigative, and engagement reporting serving the Spanish speaking communities of North Carolina.

Free Press will receive $1 million to build and strengthen the capacity of local and state civic actors to inform the creation of policy environments that prioritize local information needs of underserved communities.

Lawyers for Reporters will receive $450,000 to provide essential legal services on a pro-bono basis to news outlets.

Mississippi Free Press will receive $350,000 for its reporting on the state capitol and rural areas of the state focusing on systemic and structural challenges, and race, gender, and LGBTQ+ issues.

National Trust for Local News will receive $500,000 for its work to acquire and help transform local newspapers to create more sustainable and responsive news entities.

NewsMatch, a program of the Institute for Nonprofit News will receive $3.5 million to provide matching grants for individual donations made to news outlets, and training and tools to bolster the fundraising capacity of newsrooms.

Outlier Media will receive $1 million for its reporting addressing the information needs of Detroit residents, particularly low-income people and communities of color.

Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy will receive $3.5 million to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led newsrooms with grants and technical assistance.

Rebuild Local News will receive $500,000 to support its national coalition that works to provide education on the need and opportunities for federal and local public policy in support of journalism sustainability.

URL Media will receive $500,000 to support its network of Black and Brown publishers working to share content, distribution, and build shared revenue streams.

This first set of grants includes funding for infrastructure support and shared services, along with direct support for eight local newsrooms that engage in sustained, deep listening to serve their communities with news and information. These newsrooms also explore how to deliver information in innovative ways, including through text messaging. Through its own grantmaking and grantmaking with Press Forward partners in the pooled fund, MacArthur is building the case for, and highlighting the possibility of, a local news renaissance around the country.

$48 million in support of local news, initial seeding of Press Forward Collaborative

Over the past eight years, the Documenters Network has grown from free, accessible trainings at public library branches in Chicago to a movement for participatory civic media spanning fifteen cities in eleven states. Unified around a shared set of values and practices, Documenters is a multi-local network, celebrating the best of local journalism while creating opportunities for learning and community building across states and regions.

This spring, we’re thrilled to welcome four new communities to the Documenters Network

Wichita Documenters, powered by the Wichita Journalism Collaborative

The Wichita Journalism Collaborative is a coalition of newsrooms and community partners joining forces to help meet news and information needs in and around Wichita. Wichita will be our first Documenters community in Kansas. Funded by the Wichita Foundation, the Wichita Documenters will join a thriving collaborative of public media, digital startups and community media outlets including KMUW, Planeta Venus, The Community Voice, The KLC Journal and The Wichita Beacon.

Newark Documenters, powered by the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice and New Brunswick Documenters, powered by CoLAB Arts

For the first time, we’re launching multiple Documenters Network sites within the same state. The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium is a first-in-the-nation project that reimagines how public funding can be used to address the growing problem of news deserts, misinformation, and support more informed communities. By piloting Documenters in several locations across New Jersey we can showcase a model for how public and private funding can increase local journalism capacity, contribute to workforce development and equip local residents to hold their public officials to account.

Bismarck Documenters, powered by Buffalo’s Fire

For our first Indigenous-led Documenters site, we welcome online news site Buffalo’s Fire and the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. Based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Buffalo’s Fire will focus on public meetings relative to American Indians in the Bismarck-Mandan area and the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Expansion plans will include other reservations across the state. We’ll work together to build a model for increased transparency of open public meetings in Indian Country. Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance Founding Director, Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, is leading a push for freedom of information and sunshine laws to counter tribal news deserts.

In addition to these new communities joining the network, we’re psyched to work with two incredible organizations to relaunch Omaha Documenters. The Nebraska Journalism Trust and Civic Nebraska are teaming up to support the community of Documenters in Omaha and plan ahead to launching new sites across Nebraska. We love how these two organizations will combine their skills in local journalism and civic engagement to make something greater together.

The Documenters Network is expanding and we can’t wait to bring more communities together in our growing network. If you’re interested in bringing Documenters to your city or region, please let us know!

The Documenters Network welcomes four new communities in Kansas, New Jersey and North Dakota

Ten organizations have been awarded a total of $150,000 as part of the Creative Midwest Media Cohort, a new year-long program facilitated through Arts Midwest’s Creativity News Desk. This initiative amplifies stories of arts, culture, and creativity in the Midwest.

The Creative Midwest Media Cohort supports organizations in producing media projects that cover stories of Midwestern creativity in the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, or the 42 Native Nations that share this geography. The inaugural participants, selected as part of an invite-only application process, will each receive a $15,000 grant and networking opportunities through the program.

Cohort organizations are creating diverse projects such as podcasts, multimedia series, social media videos, print publications, and a writers’ residency program. These initiatives will prominently feature and engage Native artists, creatives of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and individuals in the rural Midwest.

Learn more about the 10 cohort organizations

 and the projects they are working on through this program.

Announcing the Creative Midwest Media Cohort

New data show counties that make it easier for residents to participate in civic activities and provide ample information sources – such as broadband or public libraries – are often healthier.

These counties are often located in the Northeast and Western regions of the country and tend to also experience more social and economic opportunities and longer life expectancy, according to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps’ National Findings Report released today.

The places where communities connect and share information – the civic infrastructure of a community – make participation possible. Counties with more access to public libraries, broadband and local news sources also have higher voter participation and greater union membership. The research also found that counties with well-resourced civic infrastructure had lower rates of children in poverty, uninsured adults, less income inequality and higher rates of high school completion. Exclusionary policies and practices can create obstacles to participation in decisions that affect health. The research found that in counties with more obstacles, such as laws that make it harder to vote, average life expectancy is more than three years shorter compared to counties with fewer obstacles (74.1 years v 77.6 years, respectively).