As the state with the second largest American-Indian population, lack of American-Indian representation in the media has become an issue in Oklahoma. One of the 2002 Brite Symposium panels discussed this topic, along with how tribal affairs are covered, if at all.

The Brite Symposium brought together local, regional and national American-Indian experts to discuss a wide array of issues concerning American Indians in the media.

Jodi Rave, American-Indian reporter for the Lincoln Star-Journal in Nebraska, covers one of the few American-Indian beats in mainstream media. Rave said many American-Indian issues have been lost in the media.

"This kind of beat is long overdue," she said. "I think that the mainstream press really underestimated the interest in Native American issues. People are getting new views and seeing new issues that they have never been exposed to before."

Rave said she is an adamant believer that there continues to be a need for more American-Indian journalists.

"We need that perspective in the newsroom," she said.

One of the largest driving forces behind the content of the news is technology, said Mark Trahant, chairman of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Trahant quoted a recent example concerning three simultaneous kidnappings, including the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. The kidnappings occurred in Detroit, Idaho, and Salt Lake City. Smart, who lived in Salt Lake City, became the focus of the national media.

"This is because technology drives stories," he said. "If the technology is there, then the story gets covered," Trahant said. "Because of technology, there is the opportunity to cover stories that you couldn't before."

When speaking of newspapers, Trahant said the changes in print should not necessarily take place on the front page, but in the stories involving family and success that are usually published in the back sections.

"I believe the highest calling of any reporter is in refrigerator news, the news that is saved and talked about," he said. "These stories are put on people's refrigerators and really make an impact on people's lives."

Dan Agent, editor of the official newspaper of the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee Phoenix in Tahlequah, said a constant problem in reporting tribal affairs is accurate coverage of American Indians in mainstream media and in tribal media.

"The problem is that our education doesn't provide an accurate history of Native Americans," Agent said. "Our ignorance is only amplified by Hollywood. This can be seen in the mainstream media's continuous use of the term 'redskin.' Many papers have stopped using this term because it is a misrepresentation of Native Americans."

Coverage of tribal affairs in tribal media often depends on the leadership of individual tribes, he said.

"Recently, the Cherokee Individual Press Act was passed," Agent said. "This act said that if a journalist is reporting news in a fair and balanced way, they cannot be fired. Before this act, termination in tribal media often occurred because tribal heads controlled the purse strings of tribal media. If you reported something they didn't like, you were fired."

Agent said that in order for there to be accurate coverage in tribal media, each tribe must have good leadership to promote free press rights.
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