Submission Guidelines

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

National Native News (NNN) is a weekday, five-minute radio newscast. It's one of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation's four nationally syndicated radio programs. NNN is produced in Albuquerque, NM. It is a headline radio news service dedicated to Native American issues and events that compiles spot news reports from around the country. NNN is the first Native-produced, daily Native radio newscast that is distributed nationally.

The program is uplinked on the Public Radio Satellite System by Public Radio International at 1:00 P.M. ET and a high quality audio feed is also available for stations to download.

REPORTER BIOS:

Brian Bull

Brian Bull is Nez Perce from Idaho. He is the Acting News Director of Wisconsin Public Radio. Brian has covered a number of issues related to Indian Country, including the significance of Native American veterans, the clout of Indian voters in local and national politics, and a 30-year retrospective of the American Indian Movement.

His reporting earned him the, “Best Overall Radio News Reporting for 2001” Award from the Native American Journalists Association, and his stories are often heard on National Public Radio and Voice of America.

Brian likes public radio for its integrity and balance, plus its kinship to oral tradition, an important practice in Nez Perce culture. He serves on the boards of the Native American Public Telecommunications and the Radio & Television News Directors Association as an Ex-Officio, and the Northwest Broadcasters News Association.

Steve Jackson

Steve Jackson is a reporter and anchor for Spokane Public Radio in Washington state. A veteran broadcaster for 25 years, Steve covers the activities and issues of tribes in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, including the Spokanes, Coeur d’Alenes, Nez Perce, Yakima and Colville Confederated Tribes. He also works on stories relating to the tribes of western Washington. Steve and his wife Laurie live on a small farm on Four Mound Prairie.

Laura Lorson

Laura Lorson is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. She is the local host of All Things Considered for Kansas Public Radio in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is the home of both the University of Kansas and Hakell Indian Nations University, and this gives her a large pool of Native American scholars and activists to draw upon as she reports stories of interest to National Native News listeners. She is particularly interested in legal issues, and frequently reports on Supreme Court decisions pertaining to Native American interests. She also follows developments in the Potawatomi Nation, the Kickapoo Nation, the Iowa and Sac-and-Fox Tribes, and the Deleware Tribe of Oklahoma. She is married to Kelly Corcoran, a Caddo from Oklahoma, and her mother-in-law is the award winning Caddo artist, Dolores Purdy Corcoran.

Bill Cohen

Bill Cohen is now in his 35th year of news reporting for Ohio’s public radio and television stations. He works for the Ohio Public Radio/Public Television Statehouse News Bureau, which feeds daily in-depth reports to more than 40 public radio and TV stations across Ohio.

Bill also files reports for National Public Radio’s programs All Things Considered and Morning Edition. His reports have won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Ohio Associated Press, the Ohio Professional Writers, and the Cleveland Press Club. In 2003, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors gave him its national first place award for Best Radio Beat Reporting on Sate Government. In 2004, the Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters awarded Bill its annual Lifetime Achievement Award.

When Bill isn’t being a journalist, he’s either camping out, playing racquetball, buying junk at garage sales, re-reading his collection of Mad Magazines, cheering on the Columbus Clippers baseball team, or singing folk songs and displaying protest buttons in a live coffeehouse show that transports rapidly-aging baby boomers like him back to their glory years- the 1960’s.

Yanmei Xie

Yanmei Xie is NNN's Capitol Hill Reporter. Xie was born and raised in a small town in China. It’s been a long journey from her birthplace to the U.S. Capitol. Before she joined Capitol News Connection as a freelance producer and reporter, Yanmei worked for the Pacifica Radio Network. While there, she was a Capitol Hill correspondent for their 2006 Election Special, and a Washington reporter for the daily national newscast Free Speech Radio News. In addition, she worked as an editorial assistant for C-SPAN’s Distance Learning Series—US Government and Politics. Prior coming to the United States, Yanmei was an international news producer at the China Central Television. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in English and International Studies at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, and earned a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication from Miami University. She also has a Master’s Degree in Finance from the George Washington University. After more than two years on Capitol Hill, Yanmei is still amazed and fascinated by how differently the U.S. government operates from that of her own.

RULES, COMPENSATION AND FEES

• NNN airs news stories about Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Indigenous People worldwide.
  
• NNN either accepts story pitches from reporters and/or gives assignments to reporters.
  
• NNN daily FILING DEADLINE IS no later than 10 A.M. ET on the airdate.
  
• News stories purchased become the property of NNN. Reporters are not paid residuals for additional use of their work. NNN will pay a "kill fee" for commissioned stories if not used/aired. NNN does not pay for travel expenses.
  
• The pay scale is generally from $45.00-75.00 per story. Compensation can be negotiated if a submission requires heavy editing or editorial requirements have not been followed. When submitting for the first time, be sure to submit your SSN, mailing address and phone number(s).
  
• NNN uses a weekly pay schedule.
  
• NNN will not accept work from a reporter who is featured on a competitor's program(s).*
  

*A competitor is one who produces similar programming to National Native News as NNN is defined under the Program Description section above.

EDITS

NNN reserves the right to edit EVERY submission before it is accepted for broadcast. Scripts must be e-mailed or faxed to the producer (agonzales@nativenews.net) prior to an edit. Edits are conducted either by e-mail or telephone. Story length should not exceed 75 seconds, plus anchor lead, unless pre-approved by the producer. Submissions are to be sent preferably as .wav files, but can be sent as an .mp3 file at 128kpbs quality or higher to our Internet FTP site (call to get the FTP address); or sent by ISDN. Telephone feeds are only accepted when no other means of transmission exists and only if acceptable technical quality can be achieved. Submissions are only accepted AFTER an edit and with the approval of the NNN producer.

DEADLINES

• Pitches can be made at anytime during the day. Response to pitches will be made as soon as possible.
  
• Produced stories should be filed no later than 10 A.M. ET on the airdate.
  

PHRASING

• NNN prefers the term "Native American(s)" when referring to American Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts, but will accept the term "Indian(s)" if it is appropriate and accurate.

• When using the words, "Native American(s)" or "Indian(s)," they should be used as adjectives whenever possible, not as nouns (do not say, "…the Indians claim…"). The word "Indian" can be eliminated when referring to a particular reservation, for example "Navajo Reservation," instead of "Navajo Indian Reservation."

• Be careful not to generalize when using the terms, "Native American(s)" or "Indian(s)." A tribal reference is always more accurate - i.e., "…a Cherokee man from Oklahoma…," "…the Menominee Tribal Chairman…," or "…a Lakota tribal member from Pine Ridge..."

• Always try to use a tribe's name, for example "…remains of a Shawnee burial site…," instead of "…native remains were found…"

• Be sure to use a tribe's correct name; some have changed from "Tribe" to "Nation," others have not.

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