Source
Indigenous Journalists Association (formerly NAJA)
About
The Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA): known as the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) until its 2023 rebrand: supports Native American and other Indigenous peoples in journalism and hosts the annual National Native Media Awards. Its Reporting and Indigenous Terminology Guide offers concise, AP-style guidance for covering Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.
In the commons it is a source for the Indigenous & Tribal Sovereignty chapter.
Data note: the commons quotes the 2017 edition of this guide, published while the organization was still NAJA. The current version lives on the IJA site and may differ.
Access
Host posture is private-mirror-link-out. The guide was archived from the historic naja.com domain (now offline); the organization’s current resource lives at indigenousjournalists.org (linked). The archived PDF is image-only and was OCR’d, so any direct quote is verified against the source before publication. Quotes are held within fair-use limits.
Works reviewed
Reporting and Indigenous Terminology Guide
Available onlineVersion history
- 2017 editionCurrent canonical
Edition quoted in the commons (archived PDF, created 2017-04-08, published under the NAJA name). The live guide on indigenousjournalists.org may be a later revision.
Terms citing this source
“Either term is generally acceptable and can be used interchangeably, although individuals may have a preference.”
: Reporting and Indigenous Terminology, opening section
- Indian CountryUse with care
“Indian Country is a legal term used in Title 18 of the U.S. Code. It broadly defines federal and tribal jurisdiction in crimes affecting American Indians on reservations. But it also has popular usage, describing reservations, lands held within tribal jurisdictions and areas with American Indian populations.”
: INDIAN COUNTRY panel
- IndigenousUse
“NAJA urges outlets to capitalize these terms in order to avoid confusion between indigenous plants and animals and Indigenous human beings. … avoid referring to Indigenous people as possessions of states or countries.”
: Reporting and Indigenous Terminology poster, Indigenous or Aboriginal section (PDF metadata: created 2017-04-08)
- Native AmericanUse with care
“Native American and American Indian can be used interchangeably; however, the term is used only to describe groups of Native Americans — two or more individuals of different tribal affiliation. Journalists should always identify people by their preferred tribal affiliation.”
: Reporting and Indigenous Terminology, opening section
- ReservationUse with care
“it also has popular usage, describing reservations, lands held within tribal jurisdictions and areas with American Indian populations.”
: Indian Country section
- TribeUse with care
“Reporters should identify Indigenous people by their specific tribes, nations or communities. Headlines and text should also refer to tribes by their proper names, not a catch-all phrase like 'Oklahoma Native American Tribe' or 'Native American group.'”
: Tribal Affiliation section