An exterior view of the now three-suite corporate home of Native Sun News in West Rapid City.
Native Sun News’ news team. From left, Karin Eagle, staff writer, Jesse Abernathy, editor, and David Arredondo, summer journalism intern. Photos by Ardis McRae, Native Sun News Staff.
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA –– Native Sun News is growing by leaps and bounds. In this uncertain economy, when many businesses are downsizing or even shutting their doors for good as the nation continues to slowly work its way out of the recovery mode of an overlong recession and back to a booming capitalistic stance within the global market, Indian country’s news leader is making the bold move of expanding its corporate headquarters. South Dakota’s largest weekly newspaper has acquired a third office suite at its home base of the Westside Business Plaza, located at 4447 South Canyon Road. Currently, NSN is leasing Suites 4 and 5, two large workspaces that house the news team and production, sales, business, and circulation/distribution departments. Each suite has a separate exterior entrance, with No. 5 being the main hub and No. 4 containing a loft area, which the business uses as its primary newspaper morgue, or archive database. The Native American-owned and operated weekly will now also be utilizing Suite 3 of the plaza, which is owned by J. Scull Construction Services Inc. of Rapid City. In addition to being the state’s largest weekly, with a circulation of 5,500, NSN holds the distinction of being the state’s largest Native-owned employer of fellow Natives – almost 100 percent of the company’s staff is Native. The welcome, dual-office addition with its own front entrance as well has a small reception area and a walk-in storage unit. It is adjoined directly to Suite 4 by an inner door. Suite 3 will become the newsroom for NSN’s core writing team of Jesse Abernathy, editor, Karin Eagle, staff writer, and the latest addition, David Arredondo, a summer journalism intern from Black Hills State University in Spearfish. All three journalists are enrolled members of tribes within South Dakota. Abernathy, who originally hails from Chamberlain, on the banks of the Missouri River, is Mniconjou Dakota, or what is more commonly known by the genuine misnomer of Cheyenne River Sioux. Eagle and Arredondo, who both grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation – Eagle in Pine Ridge Village and Arredondo in Oglala – are Oglala Lakota, or Oglala Sioux, with only the term Sioux being misapplied in this instance. Abernathy says he continues to be honored and humbled by his almost year-long experience at Native Sun News. “I started here last August as a staff writer, and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would come so far so fast,” he said. “I am proud to lead the paper as we continue to move on to bigger and better things in the 21st century.” The addition of journalism student Arredondo to the newsroom is another plus for the flourishing Native American publication. Arredondo began his tenure with NSN in early June. In that brief period, Arredondo has “already set himself apart as a bright, self-motivated and eager journalist with great integrity and acumen,” says Eagle. “He sees the world from the perspective of his Native American heritage – as any good Native journalist should.” Eagle has been with NSN as a writer off and on since November 2009. She returned last October and plans to stay for good this time, she said. Arredondo says he is excited to be a part of NSN’s expansion. “And I hope to continue to be a part of Native Sun News as it continues to grow,” adds the aspiring journalist. The added space of two roomy, separately enclosed offices in close proximity to one another will enable the news team to better focus and collaborate on the events and stories that are important to NSN’s readers in a less distractive environment. NSN’s sales team, now mainly occupying Suite 4, will eventually move into the Suite 5 offices that will be left vacant by the news department. Production will remain in its current Suite 5 location, while Suite 4 will become the entire domain of the circulation/distribution department. Founded in March of 2009 by longtime Oglala Lakota journalist Tim Giago, Native Sun News’ headquarters was originally located on Rapid City’s east side, at 1000 Cambell St., Suite 1A. The paper’s inaugural press run was on April 1, 2009. In January 2010, NSN moved to its present location on the city’s west side. Earlier this year, the news team led NSN to an unprecedented nine awards in the publication’s first-ever appearance in the South Dakota Newspaper Association’s annual Better Newspapers Contest. Abernathy says he will be “forever indebted” to Giago for initially hiring him to work at Native Sun News. Eagle summed up the collective sentiment of NSN’s news team: “Together, we hope to further solidify our place as the heart and soul of not just Native Sun News, but of Indian country and all of the news happenings that are vital to us as the first peoples of the North American continent.”
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