Features

‘I often reflect on my work as a journalist and wonder if I’ve some inherent genetic code that comes from this time-honored practice.’

Some reporters didn’t understand the implications of tribal sovereignty when they went to the Red Lake Indian Reservation to report this story.

‘… access would be easier to achieve if reporters had been there to cover some of the more routine stories that had taken place on the reservation.’

A reporter returns home—to a troubled reservation—to write about what happened to its land and people.

In a journalism class at the University of Montana, students report from the state’s Indian Country, and their words and images are published.

To report this story meant ‘immersing ourselves in a system of government and a way of life that, shamefully, we knew little about.’

Relying on decades of experience, a journalist provides valuable reporting tips.

‘… consciously or unconsciously, stories have been shaped to fit well known themes of bad, good or degraded, ancient and exotic Indians.’

As a young reporter at The Rapid City Journal, Tim Giago was seldom allowed to cover stories on the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where he was raised. As one…

A big challenge was balancing ‘my strong sense of ethical practice with a desire to avoid preaching an “American way”….’