In that vein, I thought I might respond to some of your comments without reprising my report itself. You will continue to draw your own conclusions about its validity. I will focus instead on its length and my sourcing, on a sensible proposal from an officer of the Native American Journalists Association for where NPR might go next, and on concerns raised by some Native Americans in South Dakota.

The sourcing is clearly stated throughout the report for all to see and judge.

First were official data and official budget figures, obtained in a long series of requests by me and re-stated in my own charts that are quite different from the way the state keeps its numbers and reports them to the federal government. I constantly ran my statistical presentations back by state officials to make sure that I understood their numbers correctly. I also gave the numbers to the NPR investigative team to challenge. If the numbers, or the conclusions I drew from them, are wrong, please say so.

My second main set of sources were the responses from the reporters and editors themselves to my questions. The editors kept most of these responses off the record, opting to . Even so, our many discussions informed my analysis. Third were on-the-record responses to my questions by two state officials, and particularly Kim Malsam-Rysdon, the secretary of the state Department of Social Services, the central official in the issue.

Fourth, were sources used by the reporters on things such as state rankings, legal interpretations and the removals of children in one particular tribe. Fifth were cites from state law, guidelines from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Census Bureau figures, Pew Trust legislative history, a Harvard Population and Development Center study, and a quoted interview with a Native American legal expert. Sixth, were U.S. Supreme Court and South Carolina Supreme Court rulings, plus news articles on the arguments made before the U.S. court. Statements from Native American advocates and leaders were taken from linked news articles, and I quoted the radio news director from South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Also cited were other NPR stories.

The most prominent source was the transcript of the series itself.