Constitutional Law

N.M. tribe bans newspaper for running story on slaying

By By The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Exercising its rights as a sovereign nation, a small Indian community has banned the local newspaper from its reservation for publishing details about the horrific killing of a member of the tribe.

Elsewhere, such a move would have prompted a debate on freedom of speech.

But in the remote town nestled in northern New Mexico?s mesas and red rocks, the ban is an example of the continuing conflict between press freedoms long accepted throughout the U.S. and tribal sovereignty.

The leaders of the Jemez Pueblo were horrified by the seven-paragraph story in the Jemez Thunder newspaper that recounted the killing: a tribal member stabbed, slashed and disemboweled another man.

Already reeling from the killing, the tribe banned the paper from being sold on its land.

Robert Borden, who has published the newspaper since 1995, said he was disheartened rather than angry. The community ?is hurt by the fact that this occurred at all,? he said. ?I didn?t hurt the community.?

The tribe was well within its rights as a sovereign government to prohibit, as the governor did, the distribution of the newspaper at the tribal visitor?s center and a convenience store.

?The pueblos enjoy sovereign immunity where free speech and the First Amendment are concerned,? said Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.

The tribe was in the news just a week ago, when it banned trick-or-treating on Halloween. The tribe said it was not part of its traditional culture and was a safety concern because of the small community?s unlit roads.

The tribe of about 2,500 sits an hour?s drive northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico?s largest city. The community deeply embraces its traditions, including preserving their Towa language.

Tribal lands are apart from the U.S. government. Tribes have their own separate governments and their own laws. The federal government prosecutes violations of crimes such as murder.

The 1,000-circulation, English-language newspaper is based in the nearby non-tribal community of Jemez Springs, sells for 75 cents and usually runs between 24 to 32 pages, said Borden, who owns it along with his wife, Kathleen Wiegner.

The Bordens and a reporter make up the staff, although it also pays some columnists. Borden said he?s written positive stories about the pueblo in the past.

He wrote the story about the killing based on an FBI criminal complaint filed in federal court. He noted that he also wrote that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The story was published at the bottom of the front page of the paper?s Oct. 15 edition, below stories about a horse-riding program and artists being sought for a bridge program.

Lucas Toledo, 22, faces a murder charge in the killing of Matthew Panana, 21, on Sept. 29.

Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joshua Madalena banned the sales, saying the story was sensationalized. Madalena said the paper?s failure to exercise restraint shows it is ?out of touch with the community?s perspective.?

Madalena said yesterday that the close-knit community did not need to know the details of the killings. He said the story reopened wounds and was hurtful to the tribe.

Both men were planning to meet today for what Borden said would be ?a wide-ranging discussion.?

Madalena said the discussion needed to be held ?to make sure the newspaper is respectful toward the pueblo and the other communities? in the 30-mile Jemez Valley.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on November 02, 2010 (boomark / email).