How the media framed the COVID‐19 crisis on Native Nations: A case comparison of The New York Times and the Navajo Times

Abstract

ObjectiveThis article examines how the limited national media reporting covered the pandemic in American Indian communities across the United States, specifically the Diné (Navajo) Nation, and whether and how this coverage differs from American Indian news sources.MethodsThis article compares coverage related to COVID‐19 by The New York Times (NYT) with coverage by the Navajo Times (NT), a Diné newspaper. The authors compiled their own database of news‐based articles published by the NYT and the NT covering the pandemic and its impact on Native Nations between January 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020, and conducted a comparative content analysis of these articles.ResultsWhile coverage was limited, the NYT articles highlight social inequities that settler colonialism and federal Indian law have fostered in the past and present, the cultural backdrop, which contributed to greater adverse impacts from COVID‐19. However, coverage differs from the NT in important ways, particularly when considering the distinction between the Navajo Nation as a bureaucratic entity versus the Diné people, the framing of Native peoples as adaptive, and Indigenous investment in future creation.ConclusionsThe NT was more nuanced in its coverage of stories of the impact of COVID‐19 on American Indian communities as compared to the NYT.