Camping out at Katmai National Park for the Yup’ik autumn seal trip
Photo:©Yva Momatiuk-John Eastcott/Image Works

Jeanie Greene [1952],
Iñupiaq Eskimo, was born in the logging and fishing town of Sitka, Alaska. She hosts, reports, and produces a 30-minute weekly television program called Heartbeat Alaska. Every week, tens of thousands of viewers tune in to watch her reports. She talks about everything from Eskimo dog mushers in the 1,100-mile Iditarod to the lack of jobs in Alaska’s tiny villages. The program once featured homemade videos sent in by viewers. One of Greene’s favorites showed the breaking up of ice floes in the Yukon River. The program is now created with Heartbeat Alaska’s own full service Native American/Alaska Native production house with a full crew of videographers and editors. Since 1992, Heartbeat Alaska has been seen in over 250 Alaskan villages, the continental Unitied States, Canada, China, England, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, and Russia. On camera, Greene samples gifts like herring egg, dried seal meat, and wild berries to honor the gift givers.  Greene’s Web site displays the countless honors her program has won. More important to Greene is the fact that her program shows people it is all right to be Native.

Let’s explore news programs    Help the students start a news program in their school. Ask if a live news show can be aired during school events like lunch and assembly or over the PA system in the morning. Hold a naming contest for the show and invite the entire school to participate. The winner could appear in a special feature. Suggest that the students include special segments for administrators, teachers, parent organizations, sports teams, clubs, class activities, public opinion, and surveys, as well as for events outside school activities, such as recycling, good nutrition, and family activities. Students could also tie in their schoolwork with features on various academic subjects.

Let’s investigate neighborhoods    Have the students locate Iñupiat communities on a map. Then have them locate the community where they live and note the distance between the two. Each Alaskan community has its own special characteristics. Imagine that Jeanie Greene has invited the class to submit news about their neighborhood or community to air on her show. Have the students design a segment for Heartbeat Alaska that will introduce viewers to their community. What do they want strangers to know about it? What are they proud of? What would strangers find different or interesting about the community? What gift would they send Jeanie Greene that would be typical of their area?

Making connections    Have the children look up the following Native newscasters: Bernadette Chato, Navajo; Hattie Kauffman, Nez Perce: and Harlan McKosato, Sac and Fox. What kind of reporting do they do? Look up Native news organizations. What do they do? Now have the children watch local and national television or listen to radio news for a two-week time period. Were there any reports of Native people or communities during that time? Discuss the reports, or if there were none, discuss the absence of news about Indian issues. Encourage the class to write to news stations to request fair and equitable reporting of Native issues.

Suggested Resources
Hattie Kauffman, National News Correspondent on CBS Television’s The Early Show.

“Indian Country Sends a Stronger Signal.” New York Times, February 4, 2001.

“Northern Star” [Jeannie Green].  Sean Elder and John Hannah. People, August 22, 1994.

"What the World Should Know about Hattie Kauffman.” Proud, Fall 2000.
“Native America Calling"
“National Native News"
“Native Radio Online,KNBA 90.3FM,”