ICT won’t post on Twitter due to ‘mistrust’ of social media platform

Indianz.Com > News > ICT won’t post on Twitter due to ‘mistrust’ of social media platform

ICT managing editor and newscast anchor Aliyah Chavez (Kewa Pueblo) is seen in the ICT newsroom in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: ICT

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Indianz.Com

ICT, the news publication formerly known as Indian Country Today, will no longer be posting new content on Twitter.

In a post on Wednesday, the publication cited the social media platform’s treatment of other news organizations as one of the reasons for its departure.

“The management of Twitter’s attack on other news organizations, journalists, and journalism has led us to mistrust its decision-making,” the post read.

ICT (@IndianCountry) on X

“Social media focuses on building a community and connecting ICT with its audience. Twitter no longer does that for us,” said ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Diné. “When we look at our analytics Twitter actually brings in very little to no traffic for ICT.”

X (formerly Twitter)

ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, followed up by stating that Twitter no longer helps the news organization build its community, or reach its readers, in meaningful way.

“Social media focuses on building a community and connecting ICT with its audience. Twitter no longer does that for us,” Bennett-Begaye said in the post. “When we look at our analytics Twitter actually brings in very little to no traffic for ICT.”

"Social media focuses on building a community and connecting ICT with its audience. Twitter no longer does that for us," said ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Diné. "When we look at our analytics Twitter actually brings in very little to no traffic for ICT."
— ICT (@IndianCountry) April 19, 2023

ICT’s decision follows that of several major media outlets. In recent days, National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, along. with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) in Canada, have quit posting new content on Twitter after the platform started labeling their accounts differently due to their receipt of public funds in their respective countries.

Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, also has repeatedly tangled with journalists since he acquired the platform in a deal worth $44 billion in October 2022. The site has suspended journalists and has adopted and changed policies affecting media companies in a way that many see as arbitrary and capricious.

ICT said it would continue to post on other social media platforms. The publication, which is an independent, non-profit organization, had more than 164,000 followers as of Wednesday afternoon.

Indian Country Today was founded by the late journalist Tim Giago, who was a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The outlet began as the newspaper in South Dakota known as The Lakota Times.

The Oneida Nation later acquired Indian Country Today from Giago but eventually suspended operations in September 2017. The tribe eventually transferred ownership to the National Congress of American Indians, an inter-tribal advocacy organization, which revived it with Mark Trahant, a citizen of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, as editor.

ICT has since become owned by IndiJ Public Media, which operates as a 501(c)(3) public charity under federal law.