ICT opens Mountain Bureau at University of Montana School of Journalism
News Release
IndiJ Public Media and ICT
ICT, formerly Indian Country Today, will significantly broaden its news coverage in Montana and surrounding states when the nonprofit news organization opens its Mountain Bureau on April 25.
The bureau offices will be housed within the School of Journalism at the University of Montana in Missoula through a partnership with UM and ICT’s parent company, IndiJ Public Media.
ICT and the School of Journalism will celebrate the opening with a reception at 5:30 p.m. MDT on Tuesday. The event will be live-streamed on Facebook.
The bureau launch is part of ICT’s plan to expand from two news bureaus to nine over the next three years.
Both ICT and the journalism school hope their 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.”
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The Mountain Bureau is the first in ICT’s expansion efforts. Headquartered in Phoenix, ICT plans to create a regional news ecosystem in key geographic areas to improve the range and reach of reporting by and for Indigenous people.
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.”
Future sites for ICT bureaus include the Northwest, North Central, South Central, Southeast, Northeast , and 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.
“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. They will see that there is a career path in media for them,” said ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Diné. “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.”
For more information: Jason Begay, (505) 409-6814.
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About ICT and IndiJ Public Media:
ICT is an independent nonprofit, multimedia news enterprise headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with bureaus in Alaska and Washington, D.C. The award-winning digital news source covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians and Alaska Natives. ICT produces a public media broadcast carried via public television stations, including FNX: First Nations Experience and Arizona PBS World channel. ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a 501 (c)(3) public charity that sustains itself with funding from members, donors, foundations, and supporters worldwide.
