Indigenous Communities and COVID 19: Reporting on Resources and Resilience

Abstract

Many Indigenous tribes in the United States count on gaming revenue to provide basic services to their people, but gaming was a critical resource that was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a qualitative contextual analysis, this research explores the news coverage about economic resource loss in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous news media coverage of COVID-19, particularly where the virus and gaming intersected. It illustrates how coverage from news outlets with an Indigenous focus and/or representation differs from outlets without connections to Indigenous people. Using Indigenous standpoint theory, the analysis revealed the ways non-Indigenous media used parachute reporting to create a one-sided view of the pandemic’s impacts when it came to the industries necessary to fund indispensable tribal functions.