ADDRESSING POLITICAL MISREPRESENTATION IN MEDIA

Major news networks have long ignored and misrepresented the stories of Native peoples, contributing greatly to misinformed policy decisions and public perception. In 2020 and 2021, CNN made several missteps that required immediate action.

“SOMETHING ELSE”

During CNN’s live coverage of the 2020 election night, the network displayed a graphic breakdown of voter participation by race, categorizing Native peoples as “Something Else.” Despite the groundbreaking Native voter turnout in this election, CNN still erased us from the narrative. In response, IllumiNative and other organizations launched a digital campaign to demonstrate our collective anger and frustration.

Within two days, CNN issued an apology.

#REMOVERICK

In 2021, during a speech to young conservatives, CNN political analyst Rick Santorum said, “We birthed a nation from nothing… There isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” In response, IllumiNative, along with NDN Collective, Native Organizers Alliance, Advance Native Political Leadership, Protect the Sacred, and First Peoples Worldwide, published an open letter to CNN executives with more than 120 signatures in support of CNN firing Rick Santorum and instituting policies to develop meaningful Native inclusion in the network. To amplify the calls to action on a larger scale, we organized the #RemoveRick Day of Action, a digital activation campaign that reached more than 3.68 million people across social media, leading CNN to fire Santorum.