Freedom Forum announces American Indian Journalism Institute

Neuharth Center at University of South Dakota to offer program.

02.06.01

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VERMILLION, S.D. — The Freedom Forum will fully fund and run an academic journalism program for American Indian college students at The University of South Dakota in Vermillion from June 3 to 29, 2001.

The American Indian Journalism Institute will offer 25 Native American students the opportunity to train as newspaper reporters, editors and photographers. Participants must be in college or college-bound. Graduates of the month-long course will earn six semester hours of credit from the university. For many tribal college students, the institute will provide their first opportunity to study journalism, because their schools typically lack journalism classes and school newspapers, the most common route to journalism careers.

"The institute is the most significant journalism program ever directed at American Indian college students. It will fill a huge void in Indian Country," said Dennis McAuliffe Jr. (Osage), a Freedom Forum diversity fellow, University of Montana journalism professor and member of the Native American Journalists Association.

American Indians are the most underrepresented people of color in the news media. Estimates of the number of Native Americans working at daily newspapers range up to about 300, out of more than 55,000 journalists nationwide.

The Freedom Forum Neuharth Center at the University of South Dakota will pay all costs and give students who successfully complete the program an $800 scholarship/stipend. The course is sanctioned through the university's department of contemporary media and journalism, a nationally accredited journalism department.

The American Indian Journalism Institute is an outgrowth of The Freedom Forum's commitment to increasing diversity in newspaper newsrooms. "Improving diversity — having just one Native American working in a newsroom — makes a newspaper more aware of Indians in its community and more sensitive and intelligent in reporting stories about them," said Jack Marsh, director of The Neuharth Center.

Marsh and McAuliffe will serve as co-directors of the summer institute, which will cover the basics of journalism. Students will concentrate for one week each on reporting, editing and photography and will help publish an online newspaper. Weekly field trips will introduce students to other aspects of journalism, such as political reporting and sports writing. Faculty will include Native American journalists.

Participants may be nominated by educators, mentors or other interested parties. Nominations should be made by letter and include brief explanations of why nominees should be accepted and how they can be contacted. Nominees then will be invited to provide further information about themselves and a writing sample. Students may be asked to provide proof of tribal enrollment or lineage. Self-nominations also are welcome, as are nominations by e-mail. Nomination letters should be sent by May 1, 2001, to Jack Marsh, director, The Freedom Forum Neuharth Center, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, S.D. 57069 or jmarsh@freedomforum.org.

In addition to journalism education programs at The University of South Dakota, The Freedom Forum Neuharth Center funds and co-directs the Native American Newspaper Career Conference at Crazy Horse Memorial, near Custer, S.D. The workshop, April 24 to 26, 2001, introduces American Indian high school and tribal college students to career opportunities in journalism.

For further information, contact Jack Marsh, director, The Freedom Forum Neuharth Center, at 605-677-6315 or jmarsh@freedomforum.org or Dennis McAuliffe at 406-243-2191 or (dmcauliffe@freedomforum.org).