Thursday, July 19
Accountability Journalism for Native Communities
Presenters: Mary Hudetz (Crow), Associated Press and Mark Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock), Indian Country Today
Take your stories and reporting on Native issues beyond the rhetoric of government officials with documents and easy-to-use databases. This interactive session looks at documents available online to support your reporting on public safety, housing, elections and health care, as well as what you are entitled to receive through federal FOIA requests. We’ll also look at published reporting projects that have used data and docs to better explain or investigate complicated, pressing topics in Indian Country. This session is geared to early career and veteran journalists alike.
NAJA Membership Luncheon and Business Meeting
Presenters: Rebecca Landsberry (Muscogee Creek Nation), NAJA Executive Director and Bryan Pollard (Cherokee Nation), NAJA President
Join leaders and fellow members of the Native American Journalists Association for lunch and networking during the annual business meeting on Thursday, July 19 from 12-2 p.m. Attendees will review NAJA’s accomplishments over the past year, and the organization will present the 2018 NAJA-Medill Milestone Achievement Award to Mary Annette Pember. An informal meet-and-greet with NAJA Board of Directors candidates will follow.
What’s Happening with Indian Country Today?
Presenter: Mark Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock), Indian Country Today
What does the third chapter of Indian Country Today look like? Join editor Mark Trahant for a discussion on ICT’s new life as a nonprofit media organization and the future of journalism in Native America.
Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America’s Myths and Misconceptions
Presenters: Mark Trahant (Shoshone Bannock)
This initiative builds upon previous research efforts in order to create a long-term, Native-led movement to positively transform the popular image of and narrative about Native Americans. The project aims to engage tribal media and mainstream media. Leaders will share an annual update outlining the campaign developed from the past year’s efforts and highlight the comprehensive project report.
Opening Night Reception
Get to know members and guests of both NAJA and NAHJ for an opening night reception with refreshments served poolside at the Intercontinental Miami. All registered conference attendees are welcome to attend. Attire coordinating with the “White Party” theme is optional.
Friday, July 20
Reclaiming Native History through Tribally Produced Media
Presenters: Jennifer Loren (Cherokee Nation), Executive Producer and Host; Jeremy Charles (Cherokee Nation); Colleen Thurston (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), Producer
Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People is producing a 30-minute documentary about the translation and publication of records that shed light on Cherokee history, including accounts of the first missionaries, the Moravians, who kept detailed accounts of daily life with the Cherokees for more than 100 years. These journal entries, correspondence and church notes span the time in which Sequoyah invented the Cherokee syllabary, the establishment of the first educational institutions in the Cherokee Nation and the forced removal of the Cherokee people along the Trail of Tears. The producers of OsiyoTV discuss the process of producing this documentary for public television and the impact on the Cherokee Nation, academia and beyond.
Data & Accountability: Education in Indian Country
Presenters: Ahniwake Rose, Executive Director, National Indian Education Association, Moderator; Brian Greseth, Principal & CEO of Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation in Okeechobee, Speaker; Nadine Groenig, Director of Indian Education, Arizona Department of Education, Speaker; Phil Gover, Founder, Sovereign Schools Project at Tribal Education Department National Assembly
This session is sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation.
The Every Student Succeeds Act provides tribes and Native communities’ enormous opportunity to engage in and support Native student and schools. As we build this engagement, it is becoming a more and more necessary to ensure that the right data, in the right format, is available to make informed decisions on programs and resources. Join our panel of education experts from the Bureau of Indian Education, tribal colleges, state departments of education, and Native education advocacy groups to explore how Indian Country can improve and inform the data systems responsible for measuring our students success.
Farm Bill: Covering the Impact on Indian Country
Presenters: Janie Simms Hipp (Chickasaw), Director, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative; Colby Duren, Policy Director, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative; Zach Ducheneaux (Cheyenne River Sioux), Program Manager, Intertribal Agriculture Council
This session is sponsored by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Seeds of Native Health Campaign.
The 2018 Farm Bill will have a dramatic impact on tribal governments and Native American communities. The Farm Bill is one of the largest pieces of domestic legislation in the United States, and addresses everything from nutrition programs, agricultural policies, and food production to natural resource conservation, rural development, and insurance programs.Indian Country has been largely relegated to the margins of Farm Bill discussions for decades, and Tribes have missed out on major opportunities to protect and advance their interests. Join our panel of experts to learn more about this critical legislation and the many community stories that flow from it.
Solutions Journalism in Indian Country: Developing and Telling the Whole Story
Presenters: Antonia Gonzales (Navajo), Koahnic Broadcast Corporation / National Native News; Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee Nation), High Country News; Sarah Gustavus, New Mexico PBS
Native Americans are often portrayed inaccurately, incompletely, or, in some cases, not at all in mainstream media. Important Native voices are regularly left out of stories that matter to their communities and too often, the stories told about tribal communities focus solely on problems they face, without meaningful attention given to the ways tribes are responding to those issues. Solutions journalism – rigorous, compelling reporting about the responses to social problems – is one way to course-correct tribal representation in the media today, and to make the news a more productive force in society, helping spread ideas that work to tribal and non-Native communities that need them. This session will introduce expertise and case studies from journalists whose newsrooms are participating in an ongoing collaborative solutions journalism project in New Mexico, build skills for participants to report on responses to problems within their communities, and inspire journalists to connect their reporting to powerful community dialogue.
NAJA Two Shoes Pool Tournament
Show off your billiards skills and your knowledge of NAJA history at the inaugural NAJA Two Shoes Pool Tournament, a fundraiser for NAJA student programs, named in honor of the late Minnie Two Shoes. NAJA is hosting an 8-ball tournament with singles and doubles competitions at K&K Billiards on Friday, July 20 from 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 21
Transitioning to an Independent Tribal Press
Presenters: Dean Rhodes, Smoke Signals; Chris Mercier, Grand Ronde Tribal Council; Mia Prickett, Grand Ronde Editorial Board, Sterling Cosper (Muscogee Creek), Mvskoke Media; Jason Salsman (Muscogee Creek / Seminole), Mvskoke Media and Jessica McBride, Mvskoke Media
Several Native American news agencies have recently transitioned from government-controlled media to independently operated tribal media outlets, however, the transition hasn’t been without complications and controversy. Manager Sterling Cosper, Managing Editor Jessica McBride and Producer / Host of Mvskoke Vision Jason Salsman from Mvskoke Media in Oklahoma and Editor Dean Rhodes of Smoke Signals, Chris Mercier and Mia Prickett from the Grand Ronde Tribe in Oregon will discuss how their publications took steps toward independence and the hiccups they encountered along the way in changing the cultures and attitudes within their respective tribes regarding the role of tribal media.
Water Rights in Indian Country
Presenters: Ted Kowalski, Senior Program Officer, Colorado River Initiative, Moderator; Daryl Vigil, Water Administrator for Jicarilla Apache Nation, Presenter; and Stephen Roe Lewis, Governor of the Gila River Indian Community, Presenter
This session is sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation.
Explore the nuances and challenges of reporting on water rights in Indian Country. What is the impact of legislation, policy and environmental issues on reporting on tribal water rights at the tribal, state and national level? Join presenters from across the country to learn how tribal and mainstream media can produce impactful coverage of this topic.
Native Vote: Voting Rights in the 2018 Election
Presenters: Dan Lewerenz (Iowa Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska), Native American Rights Fund (NARF); Jacqueline D. De Leon (Pueblo of Isleta), NARF; James Tucker, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker and NARF
From new voter ID laws to the growing popularity of mail-in voting, elections are changing. This panel will help Native journalists prepare for Election 2018. Panelists will describe efforts to register and mobilize Native voters, new research that identifies obstacles Native voters face when trying to vote, and the legal battles under way to ensure that Native voters can cast their ballots without interference – all with an eye toward helping Native journalists know what to watch for during their 2018 election coverage.
Preparing for a Changing Climate: Impacts, Costs and Tough Decisions in Combating Rising Seas
Presenters: Dr. Astrid Caldas, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS); Rachel Cleetus, UCS; Susanne Torriente, City of Miami Beach; Dr. Kristina Peterson, Lowlander Center; Tim Coffin, Breckinridge
From submerged roads and sidewalks in Texas’s Bolivar Peninsula to shuttered, flooded businesses in Charleston, communities across the United States are already struggling with sea level rise driven by climate change. More than 90 communities already face chronic inundation, and the number could jump to nearly 170 communities in less than 20 years and as many as 670 by the end of the century, according to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Among the most vulnerable are tribes and other communities of color, whose cultural identity and history are deeply tied to their land along the coast. Speakers will discuss the tough decisions stakeholders face in deciding to either invest heavily in protective measures, or prepare to relocate from places people now call home.
NAJA National Native Media Awards Banquet and President’s Reception
Celebrate local Indigenous culture and the work of fellow NAJA members across Indian Country during the annual National Native Media Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 21 from 7-10 p.m. Come early to mingle with NAJA leadership from 6-7 p.m., and enjoy light appetizers during the NAJA President’s Reception with Bryan Pollard, sponsored by NBCUniversal. Attendees can get a sneak peek of the NAJA Silent Auction during the reception and bid on Native American art, vacation packages and tribal items beginning at 7 p.m. All proceeds will support scholarships for Native American students pursuing degrees in media.