Mark Trahant is a journalist and the founding editor of Indian Country Today, an Indigenous-focused news operation.
Career
edit| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Panel: "Stop Making Native People “Political Fodder”" on Democracy Now!, October 18, 2018 |
Trahant is a former Charles R. Johnson Professor of Journalism at the University of North Dakota. He is a citizen of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and a former president of the Native American Journalists Association.[1] Trahant is the former editor of the editorial page for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where he chaired the daily editorial board, directed a staff of writers, editors and a cartoonist.[2] He was chairman and chief executive officer at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.[3] He is a former columnist at The Seattle Times and has been publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in Moscow, Idaho;[4][5] executive news editor of The Salt Lake Tribune; a reporter at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix; and has worked at several tribal newspapers.[2] He was an editor in residence at the University of Idaho. Trahant was a reporter on the PBS series Frontline with a documentary called "The Silence," about sexual abuse by clergy in Alaska.[6] At the 2004 UNITY conference in Washington, D.C., he asked George W. Bush what the meaning of tribal sovereignty was in the 21st century; Bush replied, "Tribal sovereignty means that. It’s sovereign. You’re a ... you’re a ... you’ve been given sovereignty and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity."[7]
Books
editTrahant authored Pictures of Our Nobler Selves, a history of American Indian contributions to journalism published by Freedom Forum in 1996.[8]
He contributed to a commissioned exhibit, The Whole Salmon, published by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in 2003.[9] He also contributed a chapter to Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes, an anthology edited by Alvin M. Josephy Jr. and published in 2006.[10]
His book The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars was published in 2010, dealing with the federal government's Indian termination policy and the rise of Native American self-determination in the mid-20th century.[11]
Honors and awards
editTrahant, as a co-author of a series on federal Indian policy, was a finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.[2][12] Trahant’s awards and honors include Best Columnist from the Native American Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists, a Ruhl Fellowship, and co-winner of the Heywood Broun Award. He was a 2009-2010 Kaiser Media Fellow.[13] In 1995 Trahant was a visiting professional scholar at The Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. He serves as a Trustee of the Diversity Institute, an affiliate of the Freedom Forum, based in Washington, D.C. Trahant was a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 and 2005.
Personal life
editThis section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (September 2024) |
Trahant lives in Phoenix, Arizona. He is married to Jaynie Parrish.
References
edit- ^ "Native American Journalists Association Remembers USA Today Founder Al Neuharth". Native News Network. April 20, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-04-24.
- ^ a b c McGann, Chris (January 30, 2003). "P-I names Mark Trahant editorial page editor". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04.
- ^ "Mark Trahant". Native American Heritage Month 2011. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. November 28, 2011. Archived from the original on 2016-04-26.
- ^ "Trahant named Daily News publisher". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. July 22, 1996. p. 1A. Retrieved 2024-09-26 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Moscow-Pullman paper names new editor and publisher". Lewiston Morning Tribune. July 23, 1996. p. 6A. Retrieved 2024-09-26 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ Curran, Tom; Trahant, Mark (April 19, 2011). "The Silence". Frontline. PBS. Archived from the original on 2024-09-26.
- ^ "Bush on Native American Issues: "Tribal Sovereignty Means That. It's Sovereign"". Democracy Now!. August 10, 2004. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10.
- ^ "Let's keep talking". High Country News. Vol. 28, no. 1. January 22, 1996. Archived from the original on 2024-09-26.
- ^ Tanous, Adam (August 13, 2003). "'The Whole Salmon' explores a river and its people". Idaho Mountain Express. Archived from the original on 2024-07-14.
- ^ Hammond, Dewey (May 7, 2006). "Indians' reflections on famous expedition". SFGate. Archived from the original on 2021-05-15.
- ^ Newman, Chérie (August 22, 2013). "The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars". The Write Question. Montana Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2023-10-04.
- ^ "Finalist: Mike Masterson, Chuck Cook and Mark Trahant of The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ". The Pulitzer Prizes. Columbia University. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
- ^ "Mark Trahant". Center of the American West, University of Colorado Boulder. Archived from the original on 2024-09-26. Retrieved 2024-09-26.