The Pine Ridge High School student plans to attend the University of South Dakota this fall and earn a degree in journalism.
But a year ago, Cedar Face never even considered writing to make a living. That changed after she attended a newspaper career conference in the heart of the Black Hills.
“When I first got here, I wasn't interested in being a journalist,” the 18-year-old said. “But once we broke into groups, I found I liked interviewing people and telling other people's stories.”
She liked it enough to return, joining 163 students from 11 states at the eighth annual Native American Journalism Career Conference for high school and college students.
The event was April 17-19 at the Crazy Horse Memorial, south of Rapid City, S.D.
I've attended the conference intermittently and participated in the launch eight years ago during my first year reporting for the Lee Enterprises newspaper chain.
Organizers at the Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota have steadfastly worked to build upon and improve the journalism career program since then. It was heartening to return this year to see a record number of students fill the Crazy Horse Memorial auditorium.
I've been working as a daily newspaper journalist for 10 years. I've had several opportunities in my career to attend journalism diversity conferences across the country.
The mantra is always the same: We need more Native journalists.
But no organization has done more or has been as effective as the Freedom Forum and the Al Neuharth Media Center at USD. They do more than preach about diversity in the newsroom. They actively participate. And the Native American Journalism Career Conference is the fruit of those efforts.
Jack Marsh, the Freedom Forum's vice president of diversity programs, remembers a meeting with other media leaders who lamented about the low number of Natives in newsrooms.
Few work as copy editors, photographers, managing editors and reporters. Of 57,000 newsroom employees, only 323 self-identify as Native, according to the 2007 annual diversity report of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The numbers typically have remained stagnant over the past decade. But significant change is in the works, thanks to the efforts of groups like the Freedom Forum. The 2007 ASNE diversity report showed a 7 percent increase in Natives in the newsroom.
It's not an accident. It's a victory that started, Marsh said, with a simple question: “What can we do?”
“This conference started as a brainstorming session,” he said. “Several of us were embarrassed by low numbers of Native Americans in journalism, especially in South Dakota.”
The group decided to create an environment that would introduce aspiring reporters to journalism.
The program blossomed.
“We've instilled interest,” Marsh said.
But the work wasn't finished.
Question No. 2:
“What's next?”
The year after the first conference of students at Crazy Horse, the Freedom Forum-led group created the American Indian Journalism Institute, a three-week boot camp at USD that gives students a more intimate introduction to journalism. It's aimed at college students interested in pursuing a degree in journalism.
Last year, 20 students completed the boot camp; 17 were awarded newspaper internships across the country. I'm glad to report that more than one-third of the internships were awarded by my employer, Lee Enterprises.
The high school and college journalism programs have also spawned Reznet News, an Internet site and project of the University of Montana School of Journalism and the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. The network has become a news outlet for university and tribal college students across the country.
The effort to move more Natives into the pipeline continues to grow and succeed.
I've been a mentor, panelist and guest speaker at the Native American Journalism Career Conference and the American Indian Journalism Institute. It's always inspiring to see students excited about journalism.
But it's not a perfect world.
I spoke with one of the committee members of the conference at Crazy Horse, and he had a grievance. He wished more experienced Native journalists were on hand to mentor students. The same can be said of the American Indian Journalism Institute, where most of the time, a cadre of non-Natives is leading the teaching sessions.
It's time, once again, for the Freedom Forum to ask:
What's next?
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net
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