The yearslong fight by a Native American media outlet to have its editorial independence restored is the focus of a documentary that examines challenges for Indigenous journalists.
"Everyone says the same thing after watching the film: 'I had no idea this was happening here in the U.S.,'" says Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, co-director of the documentary "Bad Press."
Her film follows Angel Ellis of Mvskoke Media as she works to overturn the tribal council’s repeal of a press freedom act that had enshrined her paper's rights.
That paper — Mvskoke Media — serves the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
Tribal nations each have their own laws, constitution and governance. But of the 574 federally recognized tribes, only five have laws protecting freedom of the press. Without those protections, the media outlets are at risk of censorship and intimidation.
When the Native American Journalists Association, or NAJA, surveyed 65 media workers in 2018, it found that journalists were being restricted when covering the news.
More than half of the respondents said tribal affairs had gone unreported because of censorship at least some of the time, and 46% reported intimidation and harassment. One-third said officials had to approve stories before publication all or most of the time.
As a reporter and the executive director of NAJA, the promotion of press freedom is a core focus for Landsberry-Baker.
She started work at Mvskoke Media — then known as the Muscogee Nation News —right out of journalism school. There, she says, she experienced firsthand the "censorship from tribal administrations."
Press freedom "provides a mechanism for accountability" between tribal officials and citizens, Landsberry-Baker told VOA. "If you don't have an independent media outlet that's reporting on what's happening, then you don't have educated and informed citizens and thusly, informed voters."
But media rights on tribal lands are further complicated by funding.
A 2018 report by the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance found that 72% of Native American newspapers and radio stations were owned and controlled by tribal governments.
Less than half of 1% of media workers identify as Native American, according to 2019 data, the most recent available from the News Leaders Association, and mainstream media fall short in coverage of Indigenous issues. For some Native American communities, a tribal news outlet may be the only source of information about tribal affairs.
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is in a minority of tribal outlets whose media rights are enshrined. In 2015, it passed legislation naming Mvskoke Media an independent news source. The law cited a need to have "news and activities reported objectively and without interference or bias."
So when the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s National Council in 2018 revoked that act in an emergency session, Landsberry-Baker decided she had to act.
"I knew this story can't go untold in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and I have to do something about it, and I have to document it in some way," Landsberry-Baker said. She placed a phone call to Joe Peeler, who signed on as co-director of a documentary and flew from Los Angeles to Oklahoma to begin filming.
Their film, "Bad Press," zeroes in on proceedings in which at least one council member argued that the news published by Mvskoke Media wasn't positive enough, therefore warranting the repeal.
Following the decision, a Muscogee (Creek) Nation official took editorial control of the paper, requiring all articles to be submitted for approval before publication.
David Hill, principal chief of Muscogee (Creek) Nation, did not respond to VOA's request for comment.
In the months that followed, 10 of Mvskoke Media’s 16 employees quit.
Ellis was one of the few who stayed, saying she felt compelled to support her community and continue to tell its stories.
"Our community is one that's been almost left out of the textbooks, the history books," Ellis told VOA. "Many of the stories were not considered interesting to the mainstream. And I see our journalism that we're doing as a way to compile it, to take that snapshot of us. … That way when people are looking back, they know how we got where we are."
Ellis, who is now director of Mvskoke Media, started at the paper in 2008.
"It's more than just a newsletter. It's more than a newspaper. It's more than a news program," Ellis said. "It's the combative weapon against erasure that we're trying to achieve."
Ellis, who in 2011 was dismissed from the paper over a dispute stemming from a front-page story about an official arrested for embezzlement, had returned to the media outlet in 2018, just three months before the act was repealed.
She says having the documentary camera crew follow her provided not only visibility but protection.
The crew also kept Ellis committed as the fight dragged on. Landsberry-Baker and her team ended up filming almost 500 hours of footage over a four-year period.
"I had no idea how the story would end, but I felt some responsibility to be able to document this important moment for my tribe and to see how things would play out good or bad," Landsberry-Baker said.
As it turns out, things ended up working in favor of press freedom. In 2021, a constitutional amendment was placed on the midterm election ballot of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. A majority — 76.25% — voted in favor of press freedom.
"To see that citizen engagement, and to see them embracing this concept of news, good or bad, is our story, and we feel like it's an important component to our sovereignty — was an overwhelming, uniting factor throughout the whole thing," Ellis said.
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation also went on to elect a principal chief who had campaigned on a pro-media platform. Several other candidates who supported press freedom were elected to the National Council.
Landsberry-Baker says the documentary, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, is a culmination of her life's work.
Since its release, journalists from tribes across the U.S. have told her that the film reflects their own struggles with press freedom.
"Our ultimate impact goal is to see more tribes with free press protections at whatever level is comfortable for them," she said. "And so I'm really hopeful that [the documentary] lays out one path and one way to do that."
