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As part of Mainstreet Radio series "Broken Trust: Civil Rights in Indian Country,” MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on free speech within the Indian reservation.

Press freedom is a constitutional guarantee for most American journalists. But many who work on Indian reservations do not enjoy the same freedom, because the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not apply to them. Their protection comes from the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, which guarantees free speech. But it leaves the enforcement to tribal governments that own most reservation media outlets.

Today, many American Indians live in two worlds. Off the reservation they are guaranteed all the rights of a U.S. citizen. On the reservation, those federal rights disappear, replaced by the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, enforced by tribal governments. Many Indian people in Minnesota and the Dakotas say they've come to expect injustice both on and off the reservation.

This is part eight of eight-part series "Broken Trust: Civil Rights in Indian Country."

Click links below for other parts of series:

part 1: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/23/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-forgotten-justice

part 2: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/24/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-south-dakota-a-state-of-despair

part 3: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/24/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-how-indian-are-you

part 4: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/25/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-tribal-justice-but-not-for-all

part 5: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/25/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-plowing-native-ground

part 6: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/26/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-spiritual-freedom-behind-bars

part 7: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/04/26/broken-trust-civil-rights-in-indian-country-no-promise-of-education

Awarded:

2001 NBNA Eric Sevareid Award, first place in Radio - Large Market - Continuing Coverage category

2001 Minnesota AP Award, Best in Show - Radio Class III category

2001 PRNDI Award, second place in Division A - Series category

2002 RTNDA Murrow Award, Radio - Large Market, Region 4 / News Series category

Funders

Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.

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