For the Fall 2023 “Otherwise Symposium,” we are proposing a keynote address, screening, and panel discussion that brings together media experts working to preserve press freedoms and social justice advances made in the last 30 years. The event will have a particular focus on the work undertaken by people of the Global Majority, including people with disabilities.
Our preferred guest is Angel Ellis, a news reporter and director of Mvskoke Nation Media in Oklahoma. She was featured in the 2023 documentary Bad Press, which depicts her work in Muscogee Nation—one of only 5 federally-recognized tribes that had a free and independent press. In 2018, their legislative branch repealed the landmark Free Press Act before an election, effectively stripping the press of its independence. Bad Press follows Ellis as she fights to protect journalistic freedoms in Muscogee Nation.

With direction from the director for research, we will identify three to four CAMD faculty members and/or graduate students to join Ellis for a conversation about their work. In a national climate that is increasingly hostile to journalists, we believe Ellis’ on-the-ground experience at Mvskoke Media will generate a productive discussion about press freedoms across the United States (and globally).

Depending on timing, we hope to screen part or all of the Bad Press documentary. This film, we believe, is both entertaining and educational—an important case study about what it looks like for individuals and small organizations to stand up against injustice and speak truth to power.