Native Public Media launched its Media Blueprint Project. This is an effort to determine how the organization can use new media to expand the media presence of the Native American community.
NPM works with 33 Native-owned public radio stations in 12 states and hopes to expand its network to 30 more public stations.
It named Sascha Meinrath as lead research consultant, according to Executive Director Loris Ann Taylor. Meinrath is research director for the Wireless Future Program and heads the Open Technology Initiative for the New America Foundation.
The organization said access to broadband media technologies is vital to the development of next-generation media. Native American communities have poor broadband services and little attention in national Internet use surveys, NPM argues.
Meinrath will develop R&D to assess the state of Internet access among Native users; NPM said it will then use that data to lobby for more of a voice for Native Americans in the federal government’s media and broadband discussions.
