Dispatches from
the Digital Frontier

Politicians are quick and generous when it comes to paying platitudes to rural America. Regardless of the issue -- from the economy to the environment, from broadband to public broadcasting -- our elected leaders point to the impact political decisions will have on those in  “the Heartland.” As an advocate who works in some of the most rural communities in the United States, I should be happy to see this kind of attention being paid to these often-overlooked places and people.

Yet too often these discussions about rural America leave out my communities: our many Native lands, tribal reservations and homelands.

When politicians make sweeping statements, rolling together any community outside the suburbs into some great, sepia-tone mass of byways and farmland, what’s lost amidst the idealized imagery is a real understanding about how policy decisions made in Washington impact the lives of real people. The actual concerns of those in rural communities are often neglected; those in tribal lands are often ignored.

This is happening once again in the debate over public broadcasting.  In the discussions about the future of federal funding, specifically Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding, there’s been nodding attention paid to its disproportionate impact on rural America. But little attention is paid to what that really means in practice.

Public broadcasting looks vastly different in the various communities it serves, and that is intentional. PBS and NPR are the best-known public media, but they are not its only incarnations. Public broadcasting is a vast network of 1,300 individual and independent stations, serving defined local areas, and answerable to their community’s unique needs. In an era of unchecked media consolidation that has made so much of our news and entertainment sound the same, public broadcasting still embraces its local roots and local voice.

Thirty-nine of those 1,300 stations are located on, and primarily serve, Native communities. Thirty-three more are waiting to be built.  A centuries-long legacy of isolation and economic and cultural exploitation has kept Native people poor and powerless, but that is starting to change. Media have a vital role to play in supporting economic and community development, preserving and building cultural foundations, and encouraging political and civic engagement on tribal lands. The capacity of Native people to access, operate, produce, participate in and control our own media is critical to the future of the 565 Native Nations in this country who have long been invisible or misrepresented in media.

Mainstream commercial media coverage of Native communities is rare, so public radio is a vital resource on Native lands. If tribal stations go dark, as they likely will if funding is cut, a vital source of information in and out of Indian Country is lost.   Where tribal newspapers are disappearing, basic 911 and emergency services still don't exist, and broadband penetration is at less than 10 percent, the picture is dire. Radio provides a lifeline to Native communities, one that cannot be replaced.

Native public radio is local radio. It reaches vast stretches of tribal lands that still hold pockets of villages and isolated homes.  When trouble comes in the form of flash floods, wildfire, tornadoes or other matters of public safety, Native radio is the first and often only information source. And when there is occasion for celebration, Native radio links families, clans, and communities with news of births, marriages, school events and sports victories. Tribal governments, Indian Health services and others use Native radio to help inform, educate and mobilize their constituents. And these stations carry on the oral traditions of a cultural heritage centuries in existence, bringing a contemporary voice to Native languages.  

We Americans face profound challenges as a nation at home and abroad, and our leaders are debating the fundamental issues of our time from economic policy to education policy. We need journalism that serves the public interest, holds leaders accountable and tells the stories commercial media won’t touch. As a nation built on the idea that only an informed public can be self-governing, it’s our responsibility to invest in the information infrastructure to make that a reality.

We should be proud to spend our tax dollars on the vital educational, news and culture programming that public broadcasting offers. And surveys show that most Americans are.  In polls, public broadcasting is consistently ranked as the best expenditures of tax payer dollars after the Department of Defense. On the ground, in local communities, people understand that public broadcasting isn’t about left or right, it’s about locally driven and responsible communication service to our publics; and about robust and healthy information systems so that we can make informed decisions about our own futures. This is especially true in Indian country – but it is important for every corner of our nation.