Post by blackcrowheart on Aug 14, 2006 11:13:43 GMT -5
Fired editor launches independent newspaper
“People need to know what their leaders are doing"
TULSA OK
Sam Lewin 8/10/2006
She’s barely five feet tall and looks like a grandmother, but Bonnie Red Elk is a warrior on the frontline of the battle for a free press in Indian Country.
Since 1976, Red Elk had been writing at the Wotanin Wowapi newspaper, a publication partially funded by the Fort Peck Tribes of northeastern Montana. But Red Elk ran afoul of Fort Peck chairman John Morales and he sacked her.
Red Elk says she angered Morales when she asked too many questions about a personal trip he took that had been paid for with tribal money. Morales countered that Red Elk, 53, was fired for failing a drug test, although her official termination letter makes no mention of any drug use.
Red Elk, who certainly does not look like a drug user, strongly denies the charges, saying that her dismissal is an all-too-common-occurrence on the rez: A tribal leader that wants to be the final arbiter of what information his constituents have access to.
“They think they can control it. They think that if a tribe has put even one dime into a newspaper no one should question them,” Red Elk told the Native American Times while in Tulsa for the annual convention of the Native American Journalists Association. Since she was canned by Morales, Red Elk has launched a new publication, hoping to give tribal members the stories they won’t find in the Wotanin Wowapi.
“We wanted to keep getting the news out,” Red Elk said. “I knew they weren’t going to fill the need for news.”
Her new paper is called The Fort Peck Journal, and carries the slogan: A new independent voice of the Fort Peck Reservation. Red Elk is a grand total of one-half of the paper’s staff, handling reporting and editorial duties. Marian Montclair deals with advertising. Family members also chip in here and there, assisting in what needs to be done to make deadline.
“We wanted to get out the real news,” Montclair said. “Our chairman is controlling and he wanted to tell us what to say.”
The Fort Peck Journal has only been around since April 7, and it’s doubtful Red Elk and Montclair are making much money from the venture. That’s not the point, they say, proudly adding they have thus far sold out every issue.
“People need to know what their leaders are doing,” Red Elk said. “It’s like in mainstream society. Everything President Bush does is scrutinized and it should be that way with the tribes.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com
“People need to know what their leaders are doing"
TULSA OK
Sam Lewin 8/10/2006
She’s barely five feet tall and looks like a grandmother, but Bonnie Red Elk is a warrior on the frontline of the battle for a free press in Indian Country.
Since 1976, Red Elk had been writing at the Wotanin Wowapi newspaper, a publication partially funded by the Fort Peck Tribes of northeastern Montana. But Red Elk ran afoul of Fort Peck chairman John Morales and he sacked her.
Red Elk says she angered Morales when she asked too many questions about a personal trip he took that had been paid for with tribal money. Morales countered that Red Elk, 53, was fired for failing a drug test, although her official termination letter makes no mention of any drug use.
Red Elk, who certainly does not look like a drug user, strongly denies the charges, saying that her dismissal is an all-too-common-occurrence on the rez: A tribal leader that wants to be the final arbiter of what information his constituents have access to.
“They think they can control it. They think that if a tribe has put even one dime into a newspaper no one should question them,” Red Elk told the Native American Times while in Tulsa for the annual convention of the Native American Journalists Association. Since she was canned by Morales, Red Elk has launched a new publication, hoping to give tribal members the stories they won’t find in the Wotanin Wowapi.
“We wanted to keep getting the news out,” Red Elk said. “I knew they weren’t going to fill the need for news.”
Her new paper is called The Fort Peck Journal, and carries the slogan: A new independent voice of the Fort Peck Reservation. Red Elk is a grand total of one-half of the paper’s staff, handling reporting and editorial duties. Marian Montclair deals with advertising. Family members also chip in here and there, assisting in what needs to be done to make deadline.
“We wanted to get out the real news,” Montclair said. “Our chairman is controlling and he wanted to tell us what to say.”
The Fort Peck Journal has only been around since April 7, and it’s doubtful Red Elk and Montclair are making much money from the venture. That’s not the point, they say, proudly adding they have thus far sold out every issue.
“People need to know what their leaders are doing,” Red Elk said. “It’s like in mainstream society. Everything President Bush does is scrutinized and it should be that way with the tribes.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com