Indigenous Communities and COVID 19: Reporting on Resources and Resilience

“Mothers are Medicine”: U.S. Indigenous Media Emphasizing Indigenous Women's Roles in COVID-19 Coverage

“…Many Indigenous journalists understand how Indigenous communities fund services and use economic gains communally, so they were able to tell a richer story about the particular challenges during the pandemic. For example, for some, tribes directly fund their own community health in Indian Country, which means using money from casinos, thereby giving tribes’ members jobs and then directly returning money back to the tribal health care systems ( Azocar et al, 2021 ). This economic backbone is important because many Indigenous communities do not levy taxes upon their communities.…”

“…COVID-19's impact on capitalist economies exacerbated already existing issues. However, in Indian Country, policies shuttering casinos blocked one of the few sources of income available to address the global pandemic for many tribes ( Azocar et al, 2021 ; Mineo, 2020 ). Knowing how a community funds services is essential to understanding and unpacking issues connected to the pandemic.…”

“…Often, Indigenous media is compared to another form of media, where stories are lacking or aren't present for evaluation ( Azocar et al, 2021 ). Past research on news coverage of Indigenous communities may only legitimate knowledge about these communities from a non-Indigenous perspective.…”

“…The first news media content to use IST examined the difference in non-Indigenous and Indigenous news coverage of the COVID-19 crises in Indian Country ( Azocar et al, 2021 ). It showed how economic inequality and non-Indigenous ignorance about Indigenous gaming operations lead to stereotypical non-Indigenous news coverage of Indigenous communities during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Common theories in the field of communication studies are steeped in colonial traditions ( Azocar et al, 2021 ) and do not allow for an Indigenous perspective of the roles of Indigenous women's voices in Indigenous news media coverage of COVID-19. Therefore, to decolonize our research, this study focuses on Indigenous media as the benchmark for telling diverse stories about Indian Country versus highlighting the inequities of mainstream media and uses Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST) to guide the interpretation of the results.…”