Native American and non-Indian newspaper coverage of land and resource issues in the self-determination era

Abstract

Media analysis can be used to track trends over time. In this research, 1,969 articles covering Native American land and resource issues were studied for the period 1970–1994. The articles came from three mainstream newspapers and three Native American-controlled newspapers representing three different regions: the Southwest, the Northern Plains, and the Northeast. The analysis indicated that there were important differences between native and nonnative media. It also indicated that the federal policy of “self-determination” for Native Americans has not been implemented in the area of control of land and natural resources.

Acknowledgements

The assistance of the following individuals and organizations has been invaluable: Lois Anderson, Ellen Baird, Bush Foundation, David Wilkins, Richard Wheelock, Mark Trahant, South Dakota State University, Lucy Ganje, Doris Giago, and Christine Benally.

Notes

1 Indian Country Today has since been purchased by the Oneida Nation and is no longer independent of tribal government control (Young, 1998).

2 I was not able to identify any independent native-controlled newspaper that published throughout the study period. The term “Mohawk Nation” was used on Akwesasne Notes’ nameplate, which is why it is used in this article, instead of the more proper Kanien’kehaka.

3 An actor needed to be mentioned in the article in order to be considered “involved.” The presence of additional actors was not inferred. The involvement of Congress included the mention of legislation passed by that body.

4 As in other parts of this research, resources were identified according to the following categories: water contamination or supply, air contamination, solid waste, hazardous or nuclear waste, forestry or forest products, fisheries, wildlife protection/management, agriculture or plant foods, livestock grazing, nonenergy mining, energy minerals mining, energy production, acquisition of environmentally-critical lands, wastewater, spiritual/religious use, transportation or right-of-way for travel, recreation and/or tourism, historical/archeological sites, general land issues, unspecified resource issues, and resource(s) not listed above.

5 At first, an attempt was made to consider a roughly equivalent number of pages from each newspaper, but this proved difficult. It was not unusual for there to be three relevant articles on the front page of the Navajo Times, but it was common to go many days without any coverage in the Rapid City Journal, Albuquerque Journal, or New York Times. Different papers were published at different intervals. Over the study period, the length of each paper varied, sometimes widely. Only the New York Times was indexed. For the rest of the research, each issue was scanned, either manually or on microfilm. Certain types of material that may have mentioned land or natural resources were not considered. These included letters to the editor, display advertising, poetry, announcements of future events, and fishing reports. Full-page “news-vertisements” printed in the Navajo Times and funded by energy companies were included, because they usually had some news content about the projects underway or planned. Editorials and supplements put out by a newspaper were included.

6 The highest percentage of articles (25%) mentioned only one resource, while two (21%) and three resources (19%) were not far behind.

7 The numbers total more than 100%, because articles often mention several legal bases for an issue. State court decisions, county laws, and international law do not reach five percent of total articles.

8 This meant that outcomes were not included for intertribal organizations, state courts, state legislatures, traditional governments, or the media.