Char-Koosta News rides the wave into the future

By Sam Sandoval

For nearly 50 years, the Char-Koosta has brought news, reports and announcements to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. With our tribes’ influence growing and expanding in the state and among other tribes, Char-Koosta News’ potential also grows in technology and information. As this occurs, we always return to our people.

Beginning with Walt McDonald as the first editor, the Char-Koosta’s heart and voice has been its people. It began as an informational newsletter to supplement the council minutes, but to also disseminate valuable information to the tribal members. It continued to grow and just a short 20 years ago, Char-Koosta shed its stapled-bound incarnation to become a broadsheet paper with the added word, ‘News.’

Recently, the Salish Kootenai College, in cooperation with the University of Montana and the Tribal Council, digitized every issue from 1956 to 1988 and made it available online.

This revitalization of our tribes’ past is welcomed; prior to the digital age, finding an old copy of the Char-Koosta meant digging through domestic detritus, library archives or asking relatives, friends and co-workers. Web technology has not only allowed the Char-Koosta to be viewed through the convenience of the computer, but to be searched by keywords and printed.

The Char-Koosta’s past issues aren’t the only aspect to digitally evolve. There was a time when the Char-Koosta needed to be typed, literally cut apart and pasted down with photographs glued to boards and then sent to a printer where another complicated process made the paper a reality. Only in the last 10 years has the Char-Koosta gone from ‘cut and paste’ on tables to ‘import and place’ on computers.

While the computer age has simplified the process, it comes with it’s own complications. Regardless of electronic problems (like computer crashes at the Nth hour), the Char-Koosta News is always about content and how it pertains to the tribe. Recently, Char-Koosta began to expand this network beyond the exterior boundaries of our Rez.

Very few tribal members across the state were aware of the tribal ID law passed in October of 2007. When Char-Koosta News questioned Governor Schweitzer’s office about the law, the lack of information and education about the law throughout the state became apparent. Within a few weeks, the state of Montana tasked themselves to getting the word out. All state government agencies and offices were notified of the tribal ID law, penalties were formulated and even a special section was added to the state’s website for this purpose. Even Wal-Mart stores changed their policies to recognize tribal IDs.

In many respects, Char-Koosta News affected change for not just our tribe, but all Montana’s tribes.

When presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Butte for the Mansfield Metcalf dinner, Char-Koosta News was one of 12 newspapers officially selected to attend and the only tribal newspaper of the lot. As most everyone knows, the democratic presidential nomination is historic for the mere reason that an African-American and a woman were the top contenders for president - a first for both. Many top tribal leaders who met with Sen. Obama spoke with our reporter on the scene.

In a few months, the Char-Koosta News has gone from a local paper, to a statewide tribal paper to a national paper.

The Char-Koosta Newspaper is distributed to many parts of this country, and is read by members and non-members. With the advent of the wold wide web, the Char-Koosta News has been online for several years now. With the access to the Internet a global affair, the Char-Koosta News is, in many ways, an international newspaper as we are an intertribal newspaper.

Just as the Lakota Times used to be for the Sioux tribes, they fostered their voice into an intertribal paper that spread from the tip of Maine to the face of Washington, to the bottom of California to the handle of Florida to create Indian Country Today.

Can Char-Koosta News become that? Maybe. Will it happen soon? Unlikely. Is it possible? Most definitely.

It’s difficult, sometimes, to think that our little 10 to 12 page paper is an influential voice in the political and social machinations of the state; we are, after all, a tribal newspaper.

Ultimately, while grandiose schemes of journalistic expansion cross our minds, we are always and foremost ‘The official news publication of the Flathead Indian Nation.’ Our heart and voice is of our people; we report on events, meetings and activities of interest and importance with our eyes and ears open to the vast connections we have to other tribes, sometimes located in other states. We are connected, in more ways than 10, and when affects and influence to and from our tribe occur, Char-Koosta News will be there.

In the very first issue of the Char-Koosta in November, 1956, Walt McDonald wrote, “We are in hopes the Char-Koosta will find its way to the grass roots of the Indian people with information on the activities of this reservation and acquaint them with our vast natural and human resources.”

I can think of no better statement for the purpose of this newspaper and can only hope that we continue to do this great work as our tribal community grows into the future.