The conventional wisdom holds that mainstream news reporting about Native Americans and tribes is disproportionately negative. The Score is an attempt to test whether that assumption holds true in Wyoming. To make things simple, we lump stories into three broad categories based on overall story tone and content: “positive,” “negative” or “neutral.” We also provide weekly and ongoing tallies of the numbers, as well as headlines and publication sources for each story included in The Score. News from the sports section is not included.
Today’s tally: 29 positive stories and 35 negative stories about American Indians and tribal governments in the Wyoming news media since Oct. 9, 2011. Here are this week’s headlines from Indian Country in Wyoming:
- “WRIR group to participate in several MLK/Equality Day events in Riverton, Casper” County 10(reporting on tribal member involvement in equality events around the state). POS.
- “Wind River tribes take Dept. of Interior back to court” Wyoming Public Media (reporting on the latest development in an ongoing dispute over mismanagement of Indian money). NEU.
- “Native American student at LVHS earns National Western honors” County 10 (reporting on the success of a Lander student at a national livestock competition). POS.
- “Wind River Casino’s new hotel nearly ready for first guests” County 10 (reporting on progress at the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s new hotel). POS.
- “Top sentence is year prison for embezzling $175,000 tribal funds” KTAK/KVOW radio(updating a story about the theft of tribal money). NEG.
- “Trosper sentenced to prison for assault” KTAK/KVOW radio (reporting on the criminal conviction of a reservation man). NEG.
- “His message carries empowerment” Wind River News (reporting on a motivations talk by former National Football League player Jim Warne). POS.
- “Debate over schools plan” Wind River News (explaining a controversy over school funding at Fremont County School District 14). NEU.
- “Sage works on planting seeds of hope for youth” Wind River News (discussing a programed aimed at troubled youths). POS.
- “Hotel getting first guests” Wind River News (updating a story about the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s hotel). POS.
- “Last of embezzlement trio gets five months in prison” Wind River News (updating a story about theft from a tribal program). NEG.
- “March in Riverton on Martin Luther King Jr. Day” Wind River News (reporting on an equality march organized by reservation youths). POS.
Posted on January 14, 2012
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