Dateline: tribal colleges
J-school wins $250k grant to launch online news site by and for Indian students

By Lindsay Henderson
J-School Web reporter

American Indian students from around the nation will have their own online publication starting this spring, thanks to a $250,000 grant to the University of Montana School of Journalism from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Reznet is the brainchild of J-School professor Dennis McAuliffe, UM’s Native American journalist in residence and a member of Oklahoma’s Osage tribe.

"Over the years some of us have been racking our brains about how to increase the number of Native Americans in journalism," said McAuliffe.

As it stands, of the seven tribal colleges in Montana, only two have school newspapers and offer journalism classes. McAuliffe contends the reason there are so few American Indians in the profession is because journalism simply isn’t available to them.

Of the 56,000 journalists working at daily newspapers in the United States, only about 300 are Native Americans, according to a recent survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The Native American Journalists Association believes that number is inflated and there are actually only about 100, said McAuliffe, who serves as NAJA secretary.

Reznet could involve as many as 31 of the tribal colleges across the United States, many of which don’t have school papers. So, says McAuliffe, Reznet will bring a paper to them.

"It is intended to be the school newspaper for these tribal colleges without a newspaper," he said.

With the help of the grant, Reznet will be able to hire a staff of 20 reporters each year for two years. Some will receive digital cameras, enabling them to transmit their photographs by e-mail.

The student journalists will also get paid.

"In order to show these kids that journalism is a viable profession," said McAuliffe, "we’ve got to pay them." Reporters will be paid $50 per story and will write up to four stories per month.

Ultimately, the publication will provide aspiring Native American journalists with clips, which can help them get internships that will help them get jobs.

McAuliffe, previously an editor on the foreign desk at the Washington Post for 16 years, will be chief editor of the online publication, teaching student journalists from a distance via e-mail.

School of Journalism Dean Jerry Brown, co-author of the grant, said students can learn as much from their fellow students — if not more — as from their professors.

"This project involves technology that will allow us to reach across vast geographic distance," said Brown. "Students can see their own work and the work of their counterparts across the country."

McAuliffe will be recruiting this summer at the second annual American Indian Journalism Institute, "a journalism boot camp for Native Americans," as he calls it. The summer institute at the University of South Dakota trains American Indian students in a three-week course that covers reporting, editing and photography. The program is funded by the Freedom Forum, a foundation dedicated to diversity in newsrooms.

Last summer, students in the program got fired up about journalism, McAuliffe said, and then went back to their colleges wondering, "Now what?" He hopes to recruit some of last year’s graduates from the institute. He will also visit tribal colleges around the nation about once a month to spread the word about Reznet and recruit interested students.

"I really believe it will make a difference," said McAuliffe. The electronic newspaper’s first edition should be online by May 1, McAuliffe said.

A mockup of the page is currently available for viewing while the site is being redesigned.

UM President George Dennison said promoting diversity has always been a goal of the university.
"We need to work toward developing all talent that exists in our society," said Dennison. "It is quite clear that UM is committed to fulfilling the needs of the entire community."

The actual Reznet Web site will reside in Oakland, Calif., at the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education , a non-profit corporation working to expand opportunities for minorities in journalism.

The Knight Foundation was established in 1950 by brothers John and James Knight. It was dedicated to their father, Charles Landon Knight, the owner of the Akron Beacon Journal, who was known for helping financially needy college students get through school. John Knight later founded Knight Newspapers, which merged with Ridder Publications in 1974 to become Knight-Ridder Inc.