It’s often argued that no society is truly free if their presses are owned by the state. General consensus of the citizenry is that state controlled presses are a problem of the global “third world” and/or nations run by fascists. So why do we, as Osage’s tolerate this? To be honest, I feel I am ill equipped to delve into the intricacies of how this whole process of a Free Press came to a screeching halt. That being said, it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try. Especially for those of you that might be even less knowledgeable than I am. Hopefully I won’t do you a disservice by issuing my thoughts.
The best I can tell…. the Legislative branch desired a more free and independent press from our Osage government, not too radical right? They drafted a bill.. and Chief Jim Gray vetoed it, the congress then overrode the veto. And then the issue landed in the Osage Supreme Court…it’s first case….ever. If you ask me this became a political nightmare…. with the Legislature unhappy with the proximity between the Osage News and Executive Branch; and the Executive asserting that the law the congress passed would abridge the content, and hence the free press it was trying to create. The judicial branch found in favor of the executive and here we are today. Somewhere in there they were able to create an editorial board…. though I’m not exactly sure when it happened …it does exist and functions currently. On top of that more than a couple times the OsageNews had specific line items cut from their budget during the congressional appropriations process, in what had all the appearances of retributions for articles printed about (unflattering) news that certain congress members were making. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
It kinda looks like a dog chasing its own tail. In a situation like this it just seems like no matter what the OsageNews does someone is going to crawling up their ING’s trying to either cut funding or make editorial decisions.
A free press, to me means, that it gets print whatever the hell is fact about me, you…everyone, regardless if I like it or not. That, my friend is a hard pill for some of us to swallow. We don’t have to like it. But we have to stand by it. Seeing as how this really boils down to a funding or money issue I am offering up a few suggestions and would love to hear more from the community and your thoughts on this matter.
1. Create an Endowment. An endowment would be one giant lump sum of money that can be managed investments that generate their own income in order to fund the necessary printing, design, authoring and publication costs associated with running a newspaper. The drawback to an endowment is that this needs to be a huge sum of money, and that if its locked up in investments its vulnerable to market fluctuations. However the money earned off an endowment, if big enough, would free the OsageNews from the leash type of relationship it enjoys with 2 of our branches of government. An endowment of this size should also be in the hands of someone who understands the finer workings of an endowment, an expert(s).
2. Open up ad buys/sales. This means that all types of crazy ads might start appearing in the newspaper but hey.. thats up to the editor and it also generates income. Part of free speech is allowing the clinically insane to have an equal voice. Again.. another hard pill to swallow. But I think it would be worth it if it meant that our Osage people believed without a shadow of a doubt that the employees of the OsageNews were not being stifled in anyway shape or form in the abilities to perform their duties on behalf of Nation, so long as they were adhering to quality journalistic standards.
3. On March 26, 2009, Congresswoman Edwards introduced a bill called “The Osage Nation Free and Independent Press Act.” You can see a copy of that link by clicking here, ONCA 09-28. For reasons unbeknownst to me, this bill has been tabled in some committee. I don’t know which. I tried for about 15 minutes on the Osage website to figure it out, and just figured, wherever it is, its not currently law. Now I’m not a lawyer but what its’ intent appears to be that of making the Osage News a non-profit and move it under the newly formed Osage tribally run non-profit (counter weight to the for profit Osage LLC). At any rate it seems to be providing a solution in the same vein as the other two options. And since it’s already a bill in congress (which is way further along than options 1 and 2 that I gave) I wish it luck. If anyone can shed light on why this bill has stalled out or an effective strategy go get it moving again please share.
There is no reason why we cannot have a free press. The Osage people deserve one. Several of our current Congress people agree with this. There is no reason why the journalists that work for the OsageNews should worry about their jobs by printing things they deem newsworthy around appropriation time or anytime of the year for that matter. That’s just redonkulous. Editorial control should be left to the editor. If it’s not, we should stop kidding ourselves and give the position another name. Separating the News out from all possible governmental tinkering alleviates any possible cloud of suspicion any of our citizenry might have regarding the legitimacy of our nations paper. They are supposed to be our watch dog, our eyes and ears. Let us give them tools to their jobs, AND THEN we can judge them upon the merits of their work.
This forum is open. Let the best ideas win out. My feelings are not going to get hurt if those ideas are not my own.
Loading ...
Those are some good ideas Ryan, a press can never truly be free if it is being funded by the exact source it is supposed to represent. I’d be all for opening up the paper and allowing the sell of ads.
This article reminded me of working as the temporary editor of the Osage News after Vaden Tallchief passed (rest her soul) and I had to take the paper to Ms. Pangburn (rest her soul) for approval before it was published and distributed. I believe this was in the 80’s. Point being we haven’t come too far with regards to regulating the Osage News. The issue at hand causes me miss Uncle Mog and Aunt Judy’s paper.
As someone who has worked in the independent, tribal, and Indian press for over three decades I can tell you this argument is interesting but unworkable.
If having a national press to tell the news, the states and the U.S. governement would have one. The reason is that it is not the job of government to cover themselves. It is the people’s right and place to seek the truth.
Been tried several times to provide the truth through this method of letting journalist run newspapers. That is the first mistake. The rarely make good businessmen.
Second, you can’t cover someone who controls your funding.
This has been the wrong argument all along.
People didn’t like the tribal paper because the chief was in a lot of articles. Pick up the Tulsa world, you might find the mayor and governor in a lot of articles. It goes with the job. You’re in charge. You’re also responsible. So you get both sides of the coverage sword.
Its no different with the chief.
The tribal paper before this childish fight over little was not a newspaper. But a document meant to let people know what was going on. It was not met to assist or hurt anyone.
There are people covering the news. The local papers do a so so job. But, it is what it is.
This has never been a fight over a free press, it has been always about the fact the Chief had any control over it.
You have a hybrid of a paper, Neither fish nor foul, But it is expensive. As paper becomes more and more expensive this will become moot. There will only be the wild wild web.
Better to figure out how to prepare for that day. That is where my interests will be.
The fact that your brother used the newspaper and his control over it as a weapon to blast the Legislative Branch of the Osage Nation government time and time again when they opposed him is not a childish issue over little. He used his power and control in an inappropriate manner and the Congress moved in with the Free Press Act to stop him from taking unfair advantage of his position as the head of the Executive Branch over the Osage News. He then ran off to the Trial Court like he has again and again and when the Congress fought back, the Supreme Court of the Osage Nation ruled in favor of the Congress and against his untenable legal arguments presented to the Court in the matter. If you are trying to separate yourself from his policies and stand on your own, I’d say that you’re not being very successful.
I’m not sure I agree wholeheartedly with either Cathy or Louis’s comments, save the fact your respective opinions are both valid because they are a reflection of life experience and perception. My biggest knock is that both comments, while using experiences of the past, fail to fully flush out a viable solution to the problem. The issue remains. People want a free press and they want it as far from the government as possible. I think these comments are indicative of that problem. Even if it’s only perception, and not reality, and given the perception or remote possibility of either legislative or executive cross threading with our OsageNews, our desired situation should leave us with out such doubts. I don’t think its wrong to wish that what used to be a tribal newsletter, blossom into a fully fledged newspaper no more than I think its wrong to wish that our old government blossoms into a fully fledged democracy. No one said it was going to be easy but I refuse to believe that is impossible, or that we shouldn’t at least make efforts at trying. Getting OsageNews is a service provided by the tribe. And as such, we should expect the best, just like any other department.
If the internet is the solution being offered up, either by logically arriving here where our conversation resides or as a matter of head on collision as almost all print media trending indicates…. Then ladies and gentlemen…we have arrived. I don’t know if you know this or not but the OsageNews.org site is built on exactly the same content management platform this site is built on. I’m not sure if people have tracked the growth of that entity in the last four years but I feel as a constituent it has changed a great deal in the right direction from where it was originally. Just because it does not alway print exactly what one wants it to, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s being censored. It just means that its not printing what one wants it to. My suggestion is to write a letter to the editor or comment after the online stories, if one feels that they incomplete, partial or impartial. Just my .02. If that doesn’t work for you then I am all ears for SOLUTIONS.
Cathy
With all due respect, the decision by the Osage Supreme Court never addressed the Constitutionality of the Free Press Act, rather it made a decision on the fact that the Principal Chief did not have standing to file the case. They believed that maybe the editor or the editorial board would have to be the “harmed party” to bring such a lawsuit.
I respect the courts decision and of course will abide by it’s ruling. However, I wouldn’t be suprised if this issue resurfaces again. But it won’t be by me, is all I know.
I would take issue with the statement of “blasting the Congress”, If you were to read the entire paper, members of congress could blast me right back, and many did. As for my columns, those are my thoughts and observations on those matters, and as such, columns and their reliability are up to the descretion of the reader. As the Chief I have to work with the Congress, and when we get good things done, I’m the first one to compliment their work. But if we can’t be open to constructive criticism, then what kind of open environment is that?
“Heat” as the term implies, goes with the job. I’ve accepted the fact that some times as the leader, I have to make unpopular decisions in the best interest of the Nation. I’ve accepted that when I do, I open myself up to criticism.
What should the Nation do to improve the Osage News? Well I think we are still learning new ways to improve the newspaper and it’s companion web site. No tribal nation that I know of (except for the Navajo Times and the Cherokee Phoenix) have produced independent models. The true test of an independent press is when it exercises its right to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted and not get their budget cut. But as long as it’s subsidized by the Osage Nation, the fourth estate in our young democracy will never be totally free and independent.
But the paper has done a great job of writing stories that are accurate and it enjoys a measure of freedom that few tribal newspapers in the country have provided their tribally funded news sources.
And thats my story and I’m sticking to it. Aye.
The Osage times is too a free press what government pubications from pueblo co. are while they may be informitive they are not nor can they be afree press. Though comenting here or the bighart time or other web based forums is free press and needs to be used.
If you do not find fairness and balance here start your own forum.
We natives live in a society that does not support the native American, the native viewpoint, the native lifestyle, or the native existence. News organizations follow this same mindset because they are structured to exhibit the story of the dominant society; reshuffling to exhibit the essence of native existence is too cumbersome, too burdensome, too troublesome to explore. The story of the Osage is no different. Thus fairness and accuracy should be sought when writing stories for natives to read about themselves. Since our story is largely told by persons who exploit, but do not understand, the native point of view, our voices are still muffled. Malcolm X once said “Truth is on the side of the oppressed.”
As mentioned in a previous comment, “I have accepted the fact, that sometimes as the leader I have to make unpopular decisions in the best interest of the nation. I have accepted that when I do, I open myself up for criticism,” With all due respect, those unpopular decisions are not the best interest of the nation. The Osage News staff should not be threatened by what they hear and see of the current leaders. The current leaders should do nothing wrong that would put themselves up for critism. Its difficult to be perfect, because people always look and point out the negative, that would be news. In a perfect world the news should print all positive actions and our leaders actions should be all positive. That would be great. The Osage news should be used to bring together our nation in a positive way. There are other ways of communication such as email, facebook, myspace, twitter to express your actions. I think some leaders using the news to blast each other was immature. The Osage news should not seek approval to do their job especially if it is done in a positive fashion.