Resilient voices: the legacy of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)

For more than 40 years, Indigenous journalists have worked to support and sustain IJA. Originally formed as the Native American Press Association in 1983, the name changed in 1990, to be more inclusive of broadcast journalists. The organization has grown from just a handful of reporters to a global membership reflecting Indigenous journalists, supporters, associates, educators and partners.
In 2023, members voted to change the organization's name from the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) to the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA). This change recognizes the need to develop relationships, contacts and cooperation across political borders and reflects a desire to align terminology with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
To honor the past and to look toward the future, to give way for future generations of storytellers, students from the 2023 Native American Journalism Fellowship (NAJF), now known as the Indigenous Journalism Fellowship (IJF), interviewed former NAJA presidents during the 2023 National Native Media Conference in Winnipeg.
The result is this historic video, produced by Sarah Liese (Diné / Chippewa Cree), shot and edited by RDG PR, a Cherokee-owned and operated communications company.