NAJA Honors Indian Country Today for Journalism Excellence

Oneida Nation Homelands -- Indian Country Today captured eight awards at the 25th Annual Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) Awards Banquet held Aug. 1 in Albuquerque, N.M.  

Indian Country Today took the top three award categories of first, second and third place for Best Weekly Column; the top two in the category - Best Editorial and first place Best Layout Broadsheet Category. In addition to those top awards the publisher also garnered second place for Best Feature Story/Weekly Category;  and third place for Best News Story/Weekly Category.

A part of the Oneida Indian Nation’s Four Directions Media group, ICT is the country’s leading American Indian news source known for its award-winning reporting, incisive analysis and pointed commentary. ICT delivers the news in many formats—from the traditional hard copy of the national weekly paper to RSS feeds, a web 2.0- interactive website (www.indiancountrytoday.com) with 24,000 unique visitors a week, a digital version as a pdf and audio programs, as well as posting news on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.   ICT also annually produces several Indian Country magazines on topics such as destinations and education.
 

Indian Country Today Garners National Business Award

Indian Country Today (ICT) was the recipient today of the American Indian Tribal Enterprise of the Year award at an economic summit and trade fair held this week in Las Vegas.  The honor was given out by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development and was accepted by Randi Rourke, editorial page editor for ICT.  A part of the Oneida Indian Nation’s Four Directions Media group, ICT is the country’s leading American Indian news source known for its award-winning reporting, incisive analysis and pointed commentary. ICT delivers the news in many formats—from the traditional hard copy of the national weekly paper to RSS feeds, a web 2.0- interactive website (www.indiancountrytoday.com) with 23,000 unique visitors a week, a digital version as a pdf and audio programs, as well as posting news on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.  The paper also annually produces several Indian Country magazines on areas such as destinations and education.
 

Indian Country Today Adapting in Tough Times

The current economic downturn is adding turmoil to a media industry already challenged by the changing news appetite of the people around the world.  No longer is the 6 pm TV newscast or the morning newspaper the main consumption of choice.  Today’s consumer—especially young people brought up on surfing the Web and cell phones—want unpackaged news when they want it and how they want it.

An April 2008 article in a blog on newsosaur.com reported that newspaper circulation “has fallen back to pre-Baby Boom levels” even while the number of people in America has doubled.  On the other hand, a Dec. 23 article in Editor & Publisher stated that the websites for several of the country’s biggest papers posted “big year-over-year gains” in unique visits—including the nytimes.com (10%), washingtonpost.com (17%) and latimes.com (143%).

For Indian Country Today (ICT) Editor Randi Rourke, the biggest concern in this time of tighter than ever budgets is “making sure we can get to the news.”  She added, “ICT is known for its original content and for the in-depth coverage our readers want.”

Rourke noted that much of the turbulence in media today has not hit ICT.  “We are a niche publication and we have a loyal, core audience of regular readers.  Though we haven’t lost readers, we do need to scrutinize everything we do in a way we never had to before.”  She went on to say that the job cutbacks experienced by the mainstream media actually left ICT with a greater selection of talented writers who now want to write for ICT on a part-time basis.

Rourke’s colleague on the revenue side of the paper, Pete Wiezalis, director of marketing for the Oneida Nation’s Four Directions Media group (of which ICT is a part), says that the solution to this new reality is for ICT is “to have a news product for any kind of user from any device in any medium.”  He noted that ICT delivers the news in may formats—from the traditional hard copy of the national weekly paper to RSS feeds, a broadcast interactive website (www.indiancountrytoday.com) with 23,000 unique visitors a week, a digital version as a pdf and audio programs, as well as posting news on Twitter, Facebook and My Space.

2008 advertising revenues and profits are down for many media outlets, including even the New York Times which experienced a 16% drop in ad revenue in December and a 48% drop in profits for the fourth quarter.  Responding to the loss of revenue and changing news appetites of consumers, media outlets are adapting by shrinking the news staff and focusing more and more of their news coverage to their website—where ad rates are much lower. 

When it comes to the revenue side of the equation, Wiezalis said that ICT has the same challenges as other media outlets between print ads and web ads, namely “its dollars to dimes”.  As a niche media company, ICT has seen only a small drop in ad revenues.  Wiezalis went on to say that they are re-scrutinizing marketing initiatives and then moving money toward initiatives with a greater return on investment, while always balancing “effective journalism and business strategies that can maintain it.”

Indian Country Today, the largest Indian-owned newspaper in the country and a national weekly, is located in Canastota (NY) and has a bureau in Washington, DC.  ICT is a part of the Oneida Nation’s Four Directions Media group, which also includes Four Directions Productions, a 3D animation, HD cinematography studio; Standing Stone records; First Allies Living History production company; and Four Directions Talent, a clearinghouse for American Indian artists interested in the film and television industry.