MISSOULA, Montana — ICT celebrated the opening Tuesday of a new Montana bureau based at the University of Montana in Missoula – the first in a series of planned expansions by the nonprofit news organization formerly known as Indian Country Today.
The new bureau is being opened in partnership with the university’s School of Journalism.
The opening reception for the Mountain Bureau was livestreamed on Facebook and Instagram and included a question and answer session.
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. CONTRIBUTE TODAY.
“I am thrilled for this opportunity for the local Indigenous nations and, most of all, the students at the university and nearby tribal colleges and universities,” said ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Diné. “They will see that there is a career path in media for them. We already see it with the journalism school’s alum, Kolby KickingWoman, who will be the Mountain Bureau chief. It’s a full circle moment and an example of the right pieces falling into place for all involved.”
IndiJ Public Media, ICT’s parent company, presented School of Journalism Director Lee Banville and Professor Denise Dowling gifts during Tuesday’s reception as a thank you for helping build this partnership.
“It truly is an honor to welcome ICT into our doors to help them inspire our students of today and tomorrow, and to also be a partner in covering such wide and varied issues in such an important part of the country,” Banville said.
The new bureau is part of ICT’s plan to expand from two news bureaus to nine over the next three years. The organization wants to create a regional news ecosystem in key geographic areas to improve the range and reach of reporting by and for Indigenous people.
Future sites for ICT bureaus include the Northwest, North Central, South Central, Southeast, Northeast and along the Pacific Coast. ICT already has bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Anchorage, Alaska, and has been sharing a reporter in Portland, Oregon, with its partner, Underscore Media.
ICT’s main office is located at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
IndiJ Public Media and the University of Montana’s journalism school hope the partnership will increase and improve coverage of Indigenous issues throughout Montana as well as in neighboring states and southern Canada. Montana is home to 12 tribes, living on seven reservations. American Indians and Alaska Natives are the largest minority population in the state.
“This partnership makes a lot of sense; the University of Montana has strived to increase both the amount and quality of Indigenous coverage with its Native News program for three decades,” said Jason Begay, who is both an associate professor in the School of Journalism and the national editor/coach for ICT. “And ICT has the same mission but for tribes across the country. Together, we can make a huge difference, regionally and nationally.”
The ambitious plan is made possible in part by a $1.3 million grant from the American Journalism Project. Other grantors include the Yellow Chair Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation.
“This is the start of a new and exciting venture to give readers and viewers in this region the kind of insightful stories about Indigenous communities that mainstream news outlets often miss,” said Karen Michel, CEO of IndiJ Public Media. “A huge part of our vision for the bureaus is to provide journalism students with internship opportunities. We are fortunate to be working with the University of Montana on this important effort, as well as with our partners at Lee Enterprises, with whom we are sharing a reporter to be based out of Rapid City, South Dakota, as part of our Mountain Bureau operation.”
Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.