The story
Founded by Tim Giago in 1981.1
The Lakota Times was founded in 1981 by journalist Tim Giago (Oglala Lakota). The newspaper was based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and operated independently of tribal government. In 1989 the newspaper's offices moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, and in 1992 Giago changed the publication's name to Indian Country Today.
In 1998, Giago sold Indian Country Today to Standing Stone Media Inc., an enterprise of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, and the newspaper's headquarters moved to Central New York. In 2011, operations moved to New York City and Indian Country Today became Indian Country Today Media Network. In 2013, the printed newspaper ceased publication, replaced by digital-first online reporting and a weekly news magazine available online and in print.
On September 4, 2017, publication of new content was temporarily suspended to explore alternative business models. In October 2017, the Oneida Indian Nation donated Indian Country Today to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).
On February 28, 2018, after a hiatus during the transfer of ownership to NCAI, Indian Country Today announced its return. The site resumed regular publication, with Mark Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock) as editor and Vincent Schilling (Akwesasne Mohawk) as associate editor. Gradually new staff was added, with a renewed focus on Native American writers and editors. On July 24, 2019, the publication's headquarters moved to the campus of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix. Trahant wrote on social media that he would be hiring a team to build a televised news program and improve Indian Country Today's national report. By the end of 2019, the publication had a bureau at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, in addition to its newsroom in Phoenix and its bureau in Washington, D.C.
In February 2020, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians awarded a grant of $1 million to Indian Country Today and became founding partner for a national news broadcast about American Indian and Alaska Native issues. In March, Katie Oyan (Oglala Lakota) was announced as the publication's first managing editor. She was on loan from the Associated Press, and upon returning to the AP in February 2021 she was succeeded by Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné), who had served as Indian Country Today's Washington, D.C. editor and, later, assistant managing editor.
On March 26, 2021, ownership of Indian Country Today was transferred from NCAI to an Arizona 501(c)(3) organization, IndiJ Public Media, led by Karen Michel (Ho-Chunk). In January 2022, Jourdan Bennett-Begaye assumed the role of executive editor, taking over from Mark Trahant. On June 23, 2022, Indian Country Today was renamed to ICT.
From Wikipedia’s article on Indian Country Today, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4