The new documentary Bad Press (2023) takes a deep dive into the trials and tribulations of freedom of press laws for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma through the eyes of Angel Ellis, a reporter for Mvskoke Media.
Although freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, these rights do not apply to Indian Country (Native Nations & communities across the US). There are 574 federally recognized Native American tribes, each with tribal sovereignty and its own government. As sovereign nations, they make their own laws and constitution. Only five tribes, including the Muscogee Nation, have established laws that protect freedom of the press.
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That is, until 2018 when Muscogee Nation government officials dealt with embezzlement accusations in a major election cycle. Although the tribal government passed a Free Press Act in 2015, it was repealed by the tribal government during that election. Mvskoke Media, the tribe’s only reliable source for news, was not consulted in this landmark decision and lost its right to independent journalism overnight. Ellis set out to seek justice for her community, rallying allies for a voter-supported constitutional amendment and exposing corruption in the local government.
Why is there still such prevalent censoring of free press in the Muscogee Nation, and nearly every newspaper in Indian Country, even today?
“The Muscogee people were told that the Indian is ‘too dumb and too insignificant to take care of themselves.’ There’s a fear that that stigma will be put back on us. That’s why we want to show the world how good we are doing because this world is designed to tear us down,” Ellis notes in the documentary while rifling through 1970s issues of Mvskoke Media that now read as pure propaganda.
“If I looked back at the newspaper from 30 years ago, I would not think there’s been a problem at the tribe ever,” she said. “It was still not a free press in the 2000s … we still did our ‘happy joy joy’ stuff.”
There are moments that are particularly poetic and emotionally resonant throughout the film, such as when Ellis contemplates what life could’ve been like for her and her son if she’d chosen a career that made more money and demanded less from her emotionally. This film is especially timely in today’s political climate given the incessant censorship of independent journalism and the prolific circulation of fake news, propaganda, and misinformation. The reporters and editors who came back to Mvskoke to keep fighting during the turbulent election cycle despite the lack of freedom of the press are especially inspiring given this dire context.
Bad Press co-directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Muscogee Creek) — who is also the executive director of the Native American Journalists Association — and filmmaker Joe Peeler smartly contextualize this paradox in the film, highlighting the importance of sovereign press in educating future generations of tribal citizens.
Bad Press shines a bright light on what is at stake for free speech today, not only for Indian Country but for America at large. Using a contemporary perspective, this film features narratives from Indigenous journalists as they continue their ongoing and complicated battle for free press with sensitivity, humor, and grace.
Bad Press will be screening on Saturday, July 15 at 2pm (CT) at the Circle Cinema Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in addition to a private screening during the 2023 National Native Media Conference on Friday, August 11 at 6:30pm (CT), at the Met Theater in Winnipeg, Canada.
Source: Hyperallergic.com