Oklahoma’s flagship NPR station, KOSU, announces today a new reporter position devoted to highlighting Native American voices and stories across Oklahoma.
The First Americans Reporter will shine a light on the issues, successes and impact of Oklahoma’s 39 tribes.
“Tribes in Oklahoma are deeply woven into the economic, cultural and historic fabric of our state. The creation of a position dedicated to covering Native American news in our state fills a longstanding void in our state’s mainstream media landscape,” said KOSU executive director Rachel Hubbard. “There are several critically important stories with far-reaching implications for Oklahoma, such as the current compact dispute and two cases this year before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The Indigenous Affairs position at KOSU is proud to join Osage News, the Cherokee Phoenix, KCNP and others in covering Native American issues in Oklahoma. KOSU hopes to add and strengthen the state’s coverage during these critical times.
As important as these stories are to Oklahoma, Hubbard said there’s also a national audience KOSU aims to reach by submitting the stories to NPR and outlets like National Native News.
“There are all of these stories in Indigenous communities that are nuanced and complex and really important, and they’re just totally being missed," she said.
Representing Native Americans in news coverage is an issue that was raised in a 2019 report released by NPR that showed Indigenous voices represented less than one percent of all the sources in NPR stories. A report about NPR's staff also shows the Native people represent 0.24 percent of the the national newsroom's staff.
“There are holes in our diversity and they're meaningful when it comes to everything from overall coverage to individual sources,” NPR Chief Diversity Officer Keith Woods said after the report was released.
NPR’s public editor blog says having reporters from diverse backgrounds is important because they bring differing perspectives and are more likely to recognize and advocate for reporting that covers a wide range of views.
While KOSU’s newsroom is not a direct part of the NPR newsroom, reporters do make regular contributions, which helps to diversify the viewpoints and perspectives represented in national shows.
“I think many Indigenous communities in Oklahoma are rightly distrustful of mainstream media, because we historically show up when there’s a natural disaster, or a crime, or we only talk about diabetes or casinos. That is such a limited portrayal of what’s happening in many of these communities,” Hubbard said.
“To truly respect these stories, it requires someone spending time and talking to people and really understanding their concerns. And it’s not fast reporting that can be done by dropping in and out, it needs to be done with respect to be done correctly.”
KOSU has hired Allison Herrera, a Xolon Salinan from the central coast of California, to be the lead Indigenous Affairs reporter. She is an experienced audio storyteller with nearly 10 years of experience, reporting for High Country News, PRI’s The World, KOSU, Reveal and Al Jazeera.
“Reporting on Indigenous issues has never been more important. We'll tackle health and how tribes are responding to the outbreak, business and gaming compacts and of course the upcoming Supreme Court cases. I want to hear from you,” said Herrera.
To submit a story idea or find out more, email allison@kosu.org.
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KOSU is a public radio service of Oklahoma State University and a member station of National Public Radio. Its programming can be heard by more than 91,000 on-air listeners every week in central, northern and northeastern Oklahoma, parts of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas and worldwide at kosu.org.
