For the past 11 years, IC has been working to address the media’s systemic marginalization and misrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples. We’ve done this by putting a spotlight on the stories that other news outlets ignore and by providing a dedicated space for Indigenous Peoples to tell their own stories.
These stories have started movements and protected ecosystems. They have exposed systemic human rights abuses and pushed corporations to act responsibly. They have uncovered histories and warned us of threats that no one else even noticed. They have informed us, empowered us, inspired us and, they have given us access to the frontlines of the Indigenous Peoples movement.
The Problem is we can’t cover enough.
Even though we cover more on the world’s Indigenous Peoples than every other news outlet in Canada combined, we can only cover about 20% of what’s actually happening. Let’s put that another way: for every news report we publish, there are three to five others that we have to pass up. That’s about 720 stories a year. If we’re lucky, 10% percent of those stories will be covered by one or two other news outlets. Only 4% of those will get broad coverage.
The operative word here is JUSTICE.
Now’s not the time for mixing words. The media’s failure to cover Indigenous Peoples makes them complicit in the human rights abuses and environmental crimes they fail to report on. After all, if no one tells us that a community is being displaced or that a rainforest is about to be razed to the ground, we can never know that it’s happening. And if we don’t know that it’s happening, we can never do something about it. We are being denied that critical knowledge.
The world’s Indigenous Peoples depend on us to make sure that everyone knows what’s going on. We need you to make sure that we can.
In 2016, we’re turning IC into a dedicated news platform that’s capable of covering each and every story,by implementing a comprehensive three-year plan that’s designed to address specific limitations and weaknesses in the world’s media landscape. We aren’t willing to ask governments and corporations to fund this work because it would threaten the integrity of IC. And with almost no institutional funding available for Indigenous media, our only chance to do right by the world’s Indigenous Peoples rests in your hands.
Please give generously: https://www.gofundme.com/newsfund