Tasiyagnunpa Media, the future of Teton Times

Teton Times has been in circulation for 22 years. It is the longest running independent, Indian-owned and operated newspaper serving the Standing Rock Sioux Nation.

Avis Red Bear, publisher and editor, has been in the newspaper business since 1990. I’m appealing for funds to assist with re-opening our office, filling at least two positions and we also need help paying the printer, mailing Teton Times to subscribers and delivering the paper to news stands.

Over the last few years, advertising revenue has been in a steady decline. Small community newspapers throughout the Nation have been going under. If they don’t go out of business, they are purchased by larger chains that operate them with the goal of maximizing profit.

At the NAJA conference held in 2022, I participated in a workshop that addressed the decline of small reservation newspapers. The struggle to pay employees and publish, deliver and mail the newspaper is quite common throughout the United States. The panel of experts suggested I create a non-profit and write grants for the newspaper so that there is money to pay employee wages, and to also expand the newspaper. I have many projects I would like to do, but again, waning revenue dictates that we cannot.

First, I would like to re-open our office. I closed both offices – the one in McLaughlin and the one in Fort Yates, N.D. to save money. Some of the projects I would like to focus on are creating a webpage, phone application, a news podcast, just to name a few. These projects call for specialized skills, so I would like to hire personnel that have these professional skills.

To this end, I created a non-profit named Tasiyagnunpa Media. Tasiyagnunpa, in Lakota, means “Meadowlark”. I could not use the name “Meadowlark Media” because that name is taken. But I chose Meadowlark because in our culture, the Meadowlark speaks Lakota.

This non-profit will be the umbrella organization that will oversee various projects. It has been approved as a 501-C-3 by the IRS and also approved as a non-profit under the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. I will now turn my attention to writing grants, to get these projects underway.

As I move towards retirement, I want to see that Teton Times is sustainable and that it can continue serving the people of Standing Rock. I want to see the paper do more, be more. We are the longest running independent Indian-owned and operated newspaper on Standing Rock. The projects I’ve referenced will help us in our mission to teach our language and culture in the newspaper as well as other forms of media.

Tasiyagnunpa Media is a non-profit news operation that depends on support from people like you to produce quality journalism without advertising fees or paywalls. Please help us with this public service. Your donations allow us to pay employees, expand our coverage, purchase equipment and continue serving the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Your donation is tax-deductible. To donate via check, please make it out to “Tasiyagnunpa Media,” our parent organization, and write "Teton Times" on the check's memo line. Mail to: PO Box 26, McLaughlin, S.D. 57642