Freedom Forum Founder Al Neuharth (left) and Jack Marsh, executive director of the Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota, answer questions from participants in the Native American Newspaper Career Conference.

More than 150 Native American college and high school students are learning about opportunities in journalism at the Native American Newspaper Career Conference this week in South Dakota.

Joining them at the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills are more than 25 mentors — professional journalists, many of whom are Native American.

The sixth annual conference is the largest gathering of Native journalism students ever held in the United States.

During the three-day conference, students are introduced to the basic skills and practices of journalism. Students are accompanied by teachers and advisers, who also participate in conference activities.

South Dakota native Al Neuharth, founder of USA TODAY and the Freedom Forum, opened the conference with a speech in the visitor center at the base of the Crazy Horse mountain carving. Ron His Horse is Thunder, president of Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, N.D., spoke to the group Wednesday.

"Native Americans are the most underrepresented group in newspaper newsrooms. We are working to change that by inviting Native students to consider journalism careers," said Jack Marsh, executive director of the Freedom Forum's Al Neuharth Media Center, one of the conference sponsors. "Improving employment diversity is a priority of the Freedom Forum. News coverage will be fairer and richer with the addition of these new voices."

The conference is funded by the Freedom Forum and co-sponsored by the South Dakota Newspaper Association, the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation and the journalism programs at South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota.

"The newspaper industry has a lot of work to do in providing opportunities for Native journalists," said Arnold Garson, publisher of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., and chairman of the newspaper association's Minority Affairs Committee. "This conference is one of the bright spots in that effort as we seek to introduce young Native Americans to the excitement and possibilities of careers in newspaper journalism."