"This morning, I received a call from Kaci Poor of The Eureka (Calif.) Times-Standard for an interview. Apparently, the leaders on the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council has shut down the tribal newspaper over budget and editorial issues. A meeting is supposed to happen today to resolve the issue over The Two Rivers Tribune.

[UPDATE: 6:10 p.m. MST, July 5: The article says that the chairman of the council did this, and another blog says he did it "singlehandedly," so I'm not sure if the council as a whole was involved before today. We'll see what the facts show as things progress.]

I agree with interim managing editor Allie Hostler, who was quoted as saying: “We stand firm that we are doing our jobs in a manner that the Tribe and its membership can be proud of. Who else is going to serve as a watchdog to the powers that be if we don’t? It’s a struggle to squeeze relevant and important information from government officials as it is. Without a Newspaper you can expect what’s left of democracy in our river communities to die. We are being threatened with our jobs for doing our jobs.”"

Get the Story:
Kevin R. Kemper: Hoopa Valley Tribal Council shuts down newspaper (The Salem News 7/5)