PHOENIX (AP) – Indian Country Today, an online news publication and daily broadcaster about tribes and indigenous peoples, has changed hands.
The outlet has been operating as a limited company as part of the National Congress of American Indians since 2017 when the Oneida Indian Nation donated it to the oldest and largest tribal organization in the country.
It will now operate as an independent company.
The NCAI on Friday transferred its stake in Indian Country Today LLC to IndiJ Public Media, a newly formed nonprofit in Arizona.
“This is a new day for ICT, which has a long history as the primary news source for and about Indigenous communities, written and produced by Indigenous journalists,” said Karen Michel, Ho Chunk, President and CEO of IndiJ Public Media. “As the name of IndiJ Public Media suggests, we continue to focus on indigenous journalism while emphasizing our expansion into broadcasting.”
NCAI President Fawn Sharp described the change as “an exciting time for Indian Country Today to become financially independent and to continue the tradition of an autonomous free press”.
Indian Country Today is headquartered at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It was about to close before NCAI took over and was restarted under the direction of Editor Mark Trahant, Shoshone-Bannock.
According to a press release, over the past four decades the organization has grown from the weekly Lakota Times to a national magazine, digital publication and daily half-hour newscast that “reports on location from and for – the Indian country about the critical.” Issues Affecting Native Nations and Peoples in the United States and around the World. “
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