Storytelling has always been an important part of Native culture. Stories play a part in everyday Native life—they are often oral and rich in detail and language and serve as a form of recording history. Digital media now allow for the extension of this storytelling. This necessary text evaluates how digital media are changing the rich cultural act of storytelling within Native communities, with a specific focus on Native newsroom norms and routines. The authors argue that the non-Native press often leave consumers with a stereotypical view of American Indians, and aim to give a more authentic representation to Native journalism. With interviews from more than forty Native journalists around the country, this book is essential to understanding how digital media possibly advances the distribution of storytelling within the American Indian community.
 

Victoria L. LaPoe is Assistant Professor and broadcast and film sequence coordinator at Western Kentucky University. She is coauthor of the book Oil and Water: Media Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
 
Benjamin Rex LaPoe II is Assistant Professor of interactive storytelling in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. LaPoe is the newsletter editor for the Minorities and Communication division of AEJMC and advisor for the Multicultural Journalists student group at WKU.