Why does the language of journalism fail indigenous people?
A journalist with indigenous roots reflects on the making of We Are Still Here: A Story from Native Alaska.

http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/americas/2018/11/language-journalism-fail-indigenous-people-181111095120969.html
Date Written:  2018-11-12
Publisher:  Al Jazeera
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23087

A journalist with Indigenous roots reflects on the difficulty of doing justice to the community she is filming a documentary about. Historical misrepresentation due to lack of cross-cultural understanding has led to a distrust of the media.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Indigenous people know that their representation has failed before they've even begun speaking, because the medium through which they are represented - a hard, sharp language rooted in ideas rather than feeling - has rarely granted them territory.

The language that media uses today does not heed silence and self-interpretation. It does not respect the power of conjured stories. It does not favour the collective over the individual. And this does not fit with indigenous perspectives.

Subject Headings

• Indigenous Struggles
• Journalism Ethics
• Media Bias
• Northern Communities