Opinion

Jim Kent: Non-Native newspaper bothered by lack of popularity

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Jim Kent. Photo from South Dakota Public Radio

All Things Must Pass – Even Columnists
By Jim Kent
Lakota Country Times Columnist
www.lakotacountrytimes.com

Whether you’re a Bible scholar or a George Harrison fan – or somewhere in-between - the fact that all things must pass is pretty well known.

So when I received a telephone call from Ron Bender in February 2007 asking if I’d like to write a column for the Rapid City Journal I wasn’t anticipating too much – or too long a stay.

Since I’d spent - and still spend - most of my time focusing my writing on Indian Country, I didn’t know the man and only had two frames of reference for his newspaper.

The first was a brief experience in early 2000 when I started freelancing and attempted to have some of my work printed in that publication. After half-a-dozen tries and still unable to recognize my stories due to extensive editing, I moved on down the road with a determination not to have that happen again…ever.

My only other reference was the countless comments I heard from Natives and non-Natives alike about the jaded perspective of the Rapid City Journal – “allegedly” strongly influenced by local powerbrokers and politics.

Thus it was with some hesitancy that I accepted Ron’s offer to write a “local” column that would appear once weekly on the RCJ editorial page. And though we spent the next few months “discussing” what I thought was a “local” topic versus what the RCJ Editorial Board thought was a local topic, I actually survived until Ron’s retirement that summer and beyond.

Over the following years I stretched my wings, so to speak, and began to tackle more and more sensitive and controversial topics – every few months submitting a column I was certain would break the camel’s back.

And though I received more than a few nasty e-mails – especially when my columns showed support of a Lakota issue, and an endless array of nasty web page comments, the vast majority of correspondence sent my way was positive. Of course, that’s nice – but I don’t write to have people agree with what I say. I write to make people think and, hopefully, actually respond with their own view - whether it supports mine or not.

Most surprising during the ensuing years is that I actually retained my spot on the RCJ Editorial Page as editors – and other columnists – fell by the wayside one after another and then some. No one was more surprised than me that my words were still being printed in this much criticized right-wing publication.

That the paper’s Editorial Board refused to print a column about boarding school abuse in 2012 because they considered it “an old issue” and then added a critical 2013 commentary about Rapid City Regional Hospital to that “unpublished” pile because “it wasn’t fair” to cast a negative light on a local business came as no surprise since that was the jaded journalistic mindset so many locals had warned me of.

Still, having “only” 2 of some 300 columns (at that point) censored was a pretty good batting average as far as I was concerned. This was, after all, a town the Lakota called “Racist City” – yet the guy who regularly wrote in support of the country’s First People was still in print. How could this be? I had no idea.

But it wasn’t meant to last – nor did I ever expect it to. Not really. That the end came exactly 9 years after my first column was published in the Rapid City Journal was synchronistic, though the reason given was as absurd as the “it’s an old issue” validation for ignoring boarding school trauma.

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It seems the RCJ Editorial Board questioned the ethics of my writing a column about the success of the Lakota Country Times – especially that publication’s Facebook followers – versus the lack of Facebook success by the Journal and the Native Sun News and then (here’s the part that apparently hurt) sending the same column to the Lakota Country Times to print.

This, they inferred, showed a conflict of interest. That having my column (that’s “my” column) printed in the Lakota Country Times every week since 2010 – and with the Rapid City Journal’s knowledge – hadn’t created an ethics issue until the smaller Native American-owned paper was shown to be more popular on social media than the larger non-Native owned publication and LCT’s primary competitor – the Native Sun News – is somewhat telling. Some might even consider it racist. But not I – no, not I.

I know it’s simply a matter of good ol’ boys – be they Native or non – being embarrassed. And when little boys – or little good ol’ girls – don’t get enough attention they stamp their feet and cry and throw things. In this case what they threw was the columnist – right off the page.

But not to worry. The Rapid City Journal only thinks it’s the largest West River newspaper. Two hundred thousand Facebook followers say it’s the Lakota Country Times. And in 2016 who’s first is determined by your readers and your followers – not your cronies or your crew.

Jim Kent is a freelance writer and radio journalist who currently lives in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Jim can be heard on a variety of radio programs including National Public Radio, South Dakota Public Radio, and National Native News Radio. He is also a columnist for the Rapid City Journal and a guest columnist for the Lakota Country Times. A former editor of The New Lakota Times, and a correspondent with a variety of Native American newspapers, Jim’s commentaries have appeared in national and international publications including U.S. News & World Report, Bergen Record (NJ), Suburban Trends (NJ), New York Daily News, Roanoke Times (VA), The Observer (OR) and American Heritage Magazine.

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