As of Monday, Indian Country Today Media Network is no longer.
Ray Halbritter, the publisher of Indian Country magazine and IndianCountryMediaNetwork.com, announced an indefinite "hiatus" for the
Oneida Nation-owned media venture. He said the business has been operating at an "enormous—and unsustainable—financial loss" and will explore alternative models or partnerships as it considers its future.
"The organization has served as a model of empowerment journalism, showing that unique and distinct communities of color require equally unique and distinct media coverage. ICTMN’s reporting has also helped shape political debates and policy decisions around our community’s priorities—and that will have an enduring impact on those debates and decisions in the coming years," Halbritter, who serves as the tribe's representative and as the chief executive officer of Oneida Nation Enterprises, wrote in the publisher's note.
Indian Country Today Media Today Network began in 1981 as The Lakota Times, a newspaper in South Dakota founded by Tim Giago, an award-winning journalist from the
Oglala Sioux Tribe. He changed the paper's name to Indian Country Today in 1992 to reflect its national focus, according to
Wikipedia.
The Oneida Nation purchased ICT, as it was widely known at the time, in 1998 and continued to operate it as a weekly paper. By 2013, it had transitioned to a mostly online operation with the "Media Network" moniker. The print version became a monthly magazine and then later a
bimonthly, whose latest issue came out this month.
According to editor's note attached to Halbritter's announcement, the site's content will remain accessible in its current form until January 31, 2018.
Read More on the Story:
Indian Country Today Media Network To Cease Active Operations
(Indian Country Media Network September 4, 2017)
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