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Reporter’s Note from: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference. Day Three

Reporter’s Note from: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference. Day Three

Reporter's Notebook from: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference, Day Three

Today’s panel discussion will be held at the Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference. It is entitled Covering Indian Country for Natives. 

Sierra Clark is our panelist reporterSandy WhiteHawk SourceFrancine Compton, journalist Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) president.

These three leaders from Indian Country tribes spoke with full force for an hour and fifteen minutes. The panel was attended by perhaps the most quiet group of reporters I’ve ever seen. They listened. They took notes. They pondered over what they heard.

Francine spoke about NAJAs bingo cardEncouraged the reporters to use the tool. If they got bingo or close to it, there is most likely something seriously wrong with their reporting. New York TimesUnfortunately, there is not enough coverage for Native Americans.

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Sierra spoke out about the challenges of working in a newsroom with only an Indigenous person.

Sandy also spoke about the mistakes that reporters make when interviewing Sandy. It was a lot.

Journalism is inherently subtractive. 

I could go on and on about the powerful insights these women shared, but instead, I encourage you to listen to the panel or watch it. Here.

Our panel was in the same space as the luncheon plenary. Therefore, we finished promptly at 12 :15 p.m. as hungry reporters made their way into the restaurant to get lunch. 

It was during the luncheon plenary that I felt saucily cynical. I hear tech bros bragging about batteries. carbon captureI can smell the stench capitalistas trying to grab media attention and ink. 

At a conference for journalists.

One attendee explained to me afterwards that this panel made it clear to me that not all environmental journalists are environmentalists. 

Truth.

I politely resigned myself to the luncheon. It sounded like a sales pitch by five Meta men on a TEDx stage. 

As I entered the hall, several women were already there and many more followed me out. One woman stated, “It’s unbelievable that the main plenary is a mael.” 

Manel [man-l] noun. An all-male panel discussion.

After some time chatting to other women in the halls it was time to move on to the next panel. This panel was about landfills. Next, there was a special U.S. EPA press conferee, which was neither groundbreaking nor revolutionary. It was more cheerleading rather than accountability. Some of the regional representatives who were supposed to be available to answer questions directly to the press never showed up.

As the afternoon turned into evening, I felt relieved that our panel was so well received. It is nice to continue hearing positive comments about it. 

We don’t have enough words to say what is right in journalism and society. We appreciate your feedback. 

Watch: Non-Natives in India:

View previous reporter notebooks from SEJ

Reporters Notebook from the Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference Day Two

Reporters Notebook, Day One of the Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference

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Reporter’s Notebook, Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference Day Two

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About the Author

Author: Valerie Vande PanneEmail: Spambots are blocking this email address. JavaScript is required in order to view this email address.

Native News Online’s managing editor is Valerie Vande Panne. Ms. Vande Pane is a long-standing journalist. She was editor-in chief of Detroit’s alt weekly the Metro Times, and news editor for High Times magazine. Ms. Vande Panne was also a reporter at WGCU (the NPR and PBS affiliates in Southwest Florida), and a stringer for The New York Times. Her work has appeared in Bloomberg, Columbia Journalism Review and The Guardian, Harvard Law Today and Politico, among other publications. Ms. Vande Pane studied at Harvard University and was a Harvard University alumna.


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