How Buffalo’s Fire is serving American Indian communities in COVID-19

As part of our <a href="https://medium.com/the-engaged-journalism-lab/how-mlk50-is-serving-memphis-amidst-covid-19-47785450f7b4" rel="noopener">series of conversations</a> with equity in journalism leaders to see how they are adapting in light of the current pandemic, I recently chatted with Jodi Rave, executive director of the <a href="https://www.imfa.us/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance </a>(IMFA), a nonprofit media organization that aims to fill information gaps for American Indian communities in the Great Plains. Democracy Fund proudly supports IMFA’s publishing arm, <a href="https://www.buffalosfire.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Buffalo’s Fire</a> through the <a href="https://borealisphilanthropy.org/grantmaking/racial-equity-in-journalism-fund/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Racial Equity in Journalism Fund</a>. In 2018, Democracy Fund published <a href="https://www.democracyfund.org/publications/american-indian-media-today" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">American Indian Media Today</a>, a report authored by Rave that took a deep dive into the history and current state of Native media in the United States. The report describes how press freedom is a key challenge, with tribal governments controlling an estimated 72 percent of tribal newspapers and radio stations. This means that tribal press “largely promote the tribe’s messages rather than serving a watchdog role that holds tribal governments accountable to the community.” <a href="https://medium.com/the-engaged-journalism-lab/how-buffalos-fire-is-serving-american-indian-communities-in-covid-19-c16a2905ea51">Click Here</a>