'Good Morning Indian Country' receives $100,000 grant from Press Forward

LAWRENCE — “Good Morning Indian Country,” a Native student-led weekly news and information program produced collaboratively by University of Kansas journalism students and students from Haskell Indian Nations University, is one of 205 small, local news outlets awarded funding from Press Forward, the nationwide movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news.

“It’s going to help us grow our team,” said Melissa Greene-Blye, assistant professor in KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications and faculty supervisor for "Good Morning Indian Country" (GMIC). “It’s going to allow us to do some training and workshops to develop our team’s skills.”

Since "GMIC" became an independent, fully student-led newsroom in fall 2022, pursuing funding has been a priority. The William Allen White School has offered financial support and use of studio facilities with additional funding coming from outside grant awards, including most recently from the Scripps Howard Fund. The $100,000 Press Forward grant, to be dispersed over the next two years, means "GMIC" can move beyond survivability, planning instead for long-term growth and sustainability.

"GMIC" currently streams live on Facebook and features local and national news and weather from across Indian Country, interviews with Native newsmakers and information on upcoming events of interest to its audience. "GMIC" was selected for this funding because of its focus on covering Lawrence’s Indigenous community; the funding will allow "GMIC" to produce more local news coverage of events and issues happening in and around the Lawrence Indigenous community and other nearby locales.

“We’re going to be in a position to grow our team and have more people trained to go out into the field who can shoot, write and edit local stories covering Haskell and the Indigenous community in Lawrence and in our area,” Greene-Blye said.

In addition to closing local coverage gaps, "GMIC" also seeks to fill a crucial gap in the media industry by equipping a new generation of Native storytellers with the skills needed to work in newsrooms nationwide.

“Native individuals are always a very low percentage of workers in newsrooms nationwide,” Greene-Blye said. “Training young people who can be that next generation of Native storytellers is huge.”

Because of the grant from Press Forward, GMIC is better positioned to offer students real-world opportunities and training. Greene-Blye plans to host workshops led by veteran Native media professionals as a source of training and mentoring to prepare team members for newsroom internships and fellowships as they pursue careers in media and journalism.

Not only does "GMIC" amplify Native voices and prepare the next generation of Native storytellers, it also teaches KU students who are not Native essential lessons they can take with them into their professional lives.

“The KU students who are part of "GMIC" but not Native learn what it means to provide authentic coverage of Indigenous issues, individuals and identity,” Greene-Blye said. “They’re going to carry that with them into the newsrooms they go into.

“Conversations that need to be happening in newsrooms nationwide are happening in our newsroom.”