Dream Big

Tasiyagnunpa Livermont
South Dakota State University

Indians must have ambitious dreams to break through the many news and media barriers to promote newsroom diversity, Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and the Freddom Forum, said during the opening evening of the Native American Newspaper Career Conference.

"Your imagination is the only limitation to your dreams," Neuharth told 80 high school and college students attending the three-day conference, April 23-25.

Indians make up a drastically small percent of newsroom staffs, Neuharth said. An American Society of Newspaper Editors study reports that out of 55,000 journalists working in America, 307 are Native Americans. Native Americans are the most under-represented minority in journalism today.

Diversity in the media promotes free press - a concept Neuharth holds dear. One by-product of the lack of diversity in a free press is the discouragement it brings aspiring journalists. This prevents the education of career journalists who seek to make a difference in their communities, nation and the world.
Neuharth told the students to fight external control of newspapers, even at the high school and college levels. When he was editor of his college newspaper, Neuharth said, the college president did not approve of an article he wrote. Though this did not make Neuharth popular with the president, the young editor did not back down.

In this age of enhanced communication, Neuharth believes that the tradition of storytelling should not be forgotten. In fact, it is more important than ever to capture the stories that satisfy the diverse public's appetite for information.

In order to obtain these lofty goals, visionary dreaming is essential.

"All great journeys begin with one single small step," Neuharth said.