American Indian Opinion Leaders say they are hoping presidents and chief executive officers of the media-cable industry who attend the First Annual Diversity Summit will address the inaccurate portrayal of American Indians.
As they gather in New York City this month, the event will be an opportunity for the industry to be more responsive to the programming and production needs of Native American communities.
In an Indian Country Today survey, respondents were asked how they would characterize the usual portrayal of American Indians in the media. Fifty-three percent of respondents indicated ‘not very accurate’ and 37 percent reported ‘not at all accurate.’
David Pego, Saginaw Chippewa, said the inaccurate portrayal, is due to ‘media types (that) tend to lump all of us into one big basket, when we really represent many different tribes and different cultures.’
A mere 10 percent felt the portrayal of American Indians in the media is somewhat accurate.
Responses were more-evenly divided when respondents were asked if they recall having seen an accurate portrayal of American Indians on television. Fifty-one percent indicated ‘no,’ but 49 percent said ‘yes.’ Laura Harris, Comanche, explained the inability to recall is because, ‘Contemporary Native Americans are not part of the national consciousness,’ adding ‘the entertainment industry suffers from the same problem that most Americans do.’
The survey also asked respondents to characterize the effort by the media-cable industry to portray American Indians accurately. Forty-eight percent indicated ‘very little effort’ while 23 percent reported ‘not much effort’ is given by the industry. Though programming has improved ‘compared to 25-30 years ago,’ Annette Gray Hawk, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said, ‘Native writers, producers, directors, connections to the community?all of these are available, but not utilized.’
Twenty-six percent of respondents indicated ‘some effort’ by the media-cable industry to portray American Indians accurately while a scant 3 percent reported a ‘great deal of effort.’
An overwhelming 67 percent of respondents also indicated that the media-cable industry is giving ‘minimal effort’ to including Native Americans as staff or creative-production resources. Additionally, 25 percent reported ‘no effort’ by the industry at all.
Urging for the inclusion of Native Americans, Uwohilatlitgv, Cherokee, wrote, ‘There is much more that needs to be done by the cable industry.’ He added, ‘Native Americans need to be brought into partnership with the owners, directors, and other decision-makers of this industry, and their input given credence and respect.’
Six percent of respondents indicated ‘some effort’ by the media-cable industry to include Native Americans, while a mere 2 percent reported a ‘strong effort.’
Offering an opinion on how the media-cable industry can be more responsive to Native American communities, Richard Rose, Cherokee, said, ‘The inclusion of American Indian characters, stories, and news items, in the programming of stations in the prime time hours is sorely needed. Without real time?most Americans will continue to view American Indians as historical images, rather than real people.’
In order of greatest response the top five cable-media networks this American Indian survey group watches regularly are: Discovery, CNN and HBO (tied), A&E, History and PBS.
SURVEY COMMENTS
‘Thinking back to programming I saw as a child, the improvements are clear, compared to 25 to 30 years ago, but not enough. Native writers, producers, directors, talent in front of the screen and behind, connections to the community portrayed whether historically or contemporary in nature … all of these resources are available, but not utilized to their best potential. In this age of information/resources, there is no longer the convenient excuse of lack of knowledge or awareness.’
? Annette Gray Hawk,
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of
Chippewa Indians
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‘The movies always portrayed our people as a savage race. We are simply people with our own culture, our own beliefs and it’s time to see the changes made, time for us to be seen as people who have much to offer and to teach.’
? Brenda, Siksika
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‘The biggest problem is that media types tend to lump all of us into one big basket when we really represent so many different tribes and so many different cultures.’
? David Pego,
Saginaw Chippewa
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‘Native Americans are portrayed more as a stereotype than anything else. On movies, most Indians are seen wearing feathers and buckskins as we did a hundred years ago. Most movies that deal with Indians concentrate more on our image than they do on who we are and how we actually live.’
? Chip Cavan, Lumbee
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‘The media has their own view of what it is to be a Native American; if it weren’t for the pow wows, one would never be exposed to it. Most of my friends have never heard of fry bread, until they come to my house.’
? Lynne Wilder, Cherokee
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‘I feel that if they attempt to portray Native Americans, they should do more research into the tribe(s). So they do not make any false or wrong information.’
? George W. Shongutsie,
Eastern Shoshone
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‘I think some of the characterization depends on what level of the media is being looked at. I have seen some documentaries that have done a good job, maybe not excellent in all criteria, but for the most part. ? I see more effort by the Canadian Broadcasting to involve First Nations peoples, than American broadcasting.’
? Joanne Bigcrane, Pend d’Oreille
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‘The only film that portrays Native Americans in a more accurate way is the movie, ‘Smoke Signals.’ Although satellite television shows a variety of educational channels, they still show old westerns vs. Indians movies and also they try to show other semi-accurate movies about Indians which is somewhat better than old westerns like ‘Sequoyah,’ ‘Geronimo,’ etc.
? Karen Lynch, Navajo
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‘I am on the Community Advisory Board for KCET, and feel that Public Television does fairly well ? but there was a good episode on Nightline last week on diabetes ? but narrative programs? Forget it Please support the efforts of NAPT to fund the production and distribution of Native made programs. Canada has a well-supported First Peoples production, this country has nothing. Work with your local PBS to air more Native programming ? not just during Native American month ? Get out there and get your own programs produced. Don’t wait for some other NDN to tell your story.
? Kat High, Hupa
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‘With all the bland programming, it is an important time to have quality new ideas ? the Indian perspective has not ever been tapped into. The networks follow the almighty dollar ? the general population is starving for something with substance. . Writers like Sherman Alexie, Peter Bratt have excellent screenplays available.’
? Lakota Harden, Lakota/Hochunk
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‘? contemporary Native Americans are not part of the national consciousness because we are not a part of the school systems, text books, higher educational institutions and, most importantly, people do not understand that tribal governments are part of the federal system.’
? Laura Harris, Comanche
