Fort Peck Journal - Media War

Media War

Aside from the war between the chairman and his supporters and supporters of the constitution, there was also a media war going on between the two newspapers in Poplar.

Coverage of events and tribal government news varied greatly between the two papers. General news stories were hardly ever done. There were virtually no spot news photos, and much of their news was just press release.

The two Wotanin editors were spreading rumors about the Fort Peck Journal, at one point saying that if anyone bought the Journal they were supporting drugs. They called it the "drug journal" and did everything in their power to try to discredit the paper.

In July, Morales issued a memo saying that all tribal programs that had advertisements or news releases had to take them ONLY to the Wotanin. He ordered all of the Fort Peck Tribal police officers to not speak with any outside media without his approval.

Yet despite all the opposition, the paper continued to grow. More and more people were subscribing and more and more people were pulling their advertisements from the Wotanin and taking them to the Journal.

At this time, the main focus of all the media attention was the general council called for by Morales. Each paper covered it differently, and the outcome of the media war was going to be at the general council.

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