Cherokee newspaper, tribe take top press honors

By The Associated Press

07.30.01

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Things may well have come full circle for Elias Boudinot.

Cherokee journalist Boudinot printed the first edition of the Cherokee Phoenix in New Echota, Ga., in 1828, making it American's first Native American newspaper.

Recently the Tahlequah newspaper he began took top press honors at the Native American Journalists Association's annual convention in Buffalo, N.Y. At the same gathering, Boudinot's tribe received an award bearing his name for furthering the cause of freedom of the press among American Indians.

Editor Dan Agent said such awards prompt him and his staff to keep building.

"I view the awards as something to build on because we are a publication in progress," Agent said. "This shows that our peers recognize us and that we are right on track on what to do with our publication."

The Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advocate won first place, general excellence, among newspapers printing one to six times a year.

Advertising manager Larry Daughterty won first place, best illustration, for his fall 2000 cover "The New Face of Diabetes in America." The cover was a close-up of Madison Yazzie, daughter of staff graphic artist Brian Yazzie. Staff writer Will Chavez won honorable mention, sports writing, for a fall 2000 article on Andy Payne, a Cherokee runner of the 1930s. Brian Yazzie won honorable mention, best illustration, for a winter 2001 cover, also featuring a child to focus on the tribe's Cherokee FIRST program.

Agent said the paper's primary goal is to inform Cherokee people about events, government and people, a challenge for a paper that publishes four times a year.

"Since we are a quarterly, it's hard to have immediacy in news," he said. "So we try to do more features and in-depth coverage."

For example, the diabetes story focused on how Native Americans are susceptible to diabetes.

Agent, a Cherokee/Choctaw, said the staff writes "a lot about Cherokee people, sports and arts, culture and language."

However, the paper also keeps up with tribal programs and administration.

"The challenge is keeping the news current and up to date," he said, adding that the paper used to run monthly, but went quarterly because it is mailed free to nearly 98,000 people.

Six staff members and an apprentice work to get each 48-page issue out.

"We used to have beats, but having such a small staff, we're kind of limited," said Chavez, a member of Cherokee and San Felipe Pueblo tribes. "As a former veteran, I do a lot of veteran's issues."

Chavez said he was surprised the paper received so many honors.

"The competition was tough and this was the first time we entered," he said. "But there is a lot of team work here."

The staff works as a team, even though it is spread out in seven rooms of an old motel.

As a result, each staff member gets a private office complete with a vanity, toilet and bathtub.

"This is awesome," advertising manager Daughterty said from his office, which has a stepping exercise machine and an inflatable chair. "We're in the creative end and we can turn the music up as loud as we want."

Agent said that since moving to the motel last spring, staff members feel more relaxed than when the paper office was near the tribal office.

"We needed a space where we could have privacy and still work together," he said, adding that the move was part of the tribal council's effort to "make us as independent as possible."

Such an emphasis on independence helped the Cherokees earn the Boudinot Award, presented to a tribal nation that advances the cause of a free and independent press within government borders.

In 2000, Cherokee leaders voted to amend their constitution calling for a tribal press free of government influence.

Agent said the vote marked an end to troubles that began in 1997 when he was laid off as editor and tribal public affairs officer after printing what then Chief Joe Byrd felt was negative publicity. Agent said the paper had covered allegations of financial misconduct against Byrd, as well as the chief's attempts to remove the tribe's Judicial Appeals Tribunal. Agent said Byrd also attempted to lay off five other newspaper staff members.

"It kind of kept us on a tightrope for three or four months," Chavez said, adding that with the tribe's new provision, "we have more freedom to write and do a true news story with both sides on an issue, rather than saying the wrong thing and writing fluff."

Boudinot himself faced such challenges in the years leading to the forced removal of the Cherokees. In 1829 the Georgia Legislature voted to strip Native Americans of their legal rights, including a free press. As years passed, Boudinot began to believe that removal from native lands was inevitable, even preferable. But, Cherokee Chief John Ross did not want him to publicize dissension within tribal ranks and eventually demanded that he cease printing anything about removal. Boudinot resigned.

Agent, who returned to his position in November 1999 said he hopes the Boudinot Award prompts other tribal nations "to establish free-press legislation without enduring constitutional crises."

Now Agent intends to keep building on this "work in progress."

"If we reach perfection there's no point in going on."

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