Tim Giago retires from the newsroom

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Tim Giago, Editor/Publisher of Native Sun News will put down his pen and retire from the newsroom April 1, three years to the day after he launched this “last and final newspaper.” He will remain on the newspapers masthead as Editor Emeritus, as he moves on to, “finish the book I have been writing all my life.”

“I always knew this day would come, but I never really prepared for it. I was always too busy making deadlines and anticipating the next breaking news story. I was that kind of editor who always tried to squeeze one last story into the paper before putting it to bed. I always jumped with joy whenever I beat my competitors with a great, breaking story and wrung my hands in anguish when they did the same to me,” Giago said in his weekly editorial.

The 76 year old Oglala Lakota’s career in journalism, which he once referred to as the “life of Kings” began as a result of an order when he was serving in the U.S. Navy.

“It happened by accident in the beginning. One day I was at my desk at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard typing a report when the commanding officer happened by. He watched me for a minute and then came up to me and said, ‘You type really well. You are now the editor of the base newspaper, the PacHunter,’” he said. “After I was given that order I had to learn to put out a monthly newsletter by the seat of my pants.”

Giago’s career in journalism would eventually lead him to produce a weekly television show, launch three leading Indian newspapers, publish five books and win numerous journalism awards.

“No other Indian can tout or equal the influence Giago has had in the field of journalism in Indian Country. In fact he can probably be attributed for coining the term “Native Journalism” which brought to the forefront controversial issues that other newspapers wouldn’t touch,” said Ernestine Chasing Hawk, managing editor of Native Sun News.

His passion for publicizing the Indian viewpoint and opening his own newspaper began when he worked as a reporter for the Rapid City Journal.

“What really got me going is the job I took at the Rapid City Journal as a reporter and my frustration at working at a newspaper that never really used its resources to cover Indian country. It was from that experience I started the Lakota Times in 1981. Believe it or not I got a lot of support and help from the Journal’s editor, Jim Kuehn and the managing editor, Jim Carrier,” he said.

Since that time Giago has tackled some of the most controversial issues including unmasking a conspiracy of denial in the issue of Catholic clerical child abuse in Indian boarding schools.

During his publishing career he has spawned an entire generation of new Native American journalists including, “Avis Little Eagle, publisher of the Teton Times, Amanda Takes War Bonnet, former publisher of the Lakota Country Times, Konnie LeMay, Duluth (Minn.) Magazine, Joan Morrison, staff writer with the Duluth newspaper, Jerry Reynolds, who went on to work with Indian Country Today, Ernestine Chasing Hawk who is still with me, and so many others that worked in production, printing and advertising sales that are still in those jobs today.”



Tim Giago,

a short biography


Giago was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on July 12, 1934. He attended elementary and high school at the Holy Rosary Indian Mission. He enlisted in the United States Navy during the Korean Conflict in 1951 and was honorably discharged in 1958.

He attended college at San Jose Junior College in San Jose, Calif. in 1960 under the G.I. Bill and transferred to the University of Nevada at Reno. He majored in business with a minor in journalism. He was awarded the prestigious Nieman Fellowship in Journalism to Harvard University for the years 1990-1991.

In 1974 he formed the first American Indian Chamber of Commerce and became its executive director in Boulder, CO. He believed that all American Indian owned businesses needed to band together to gain contracts and to support each other.

Giago was the founder of the Lakota Times in 1981. The newspaper withstood firebombs, had its windows shot out with shotguns on three separate occasions and Giago received many death threats including one attempt on his life while building the newspaper successfully on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The paper was re-named Indian Country Today in 1992. He served as editor and publisher for 18 years building it into the largest independent Indian newspaper in America before selling the paper in 1998. He started the Lakota Journal in 2000 and served as its editor and publisher until his retirement in July of 2004.

He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association in 1984. In 1983 he sent letters to every Indian newspaper he could find asking them if they would be interested in forming a Native American Press Association. He then worked with Journalism Professor Bill Dulaney of Penn State to raise the money to hold the first meeting of Indian journalists at Penn State. He was elected as the first President of the association when it was formally assembled on the Choctaw Nation the next year. He was the recipient of the H.L. Mencken Award for Editorial Writing from the Baltimore Sun in 1985. He holds Honorary Doctoral Degrees from Bacone College in Oklahoma and from the Nebraska Indian Community College at Winnebago, NE.

Giago was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1994. He became the first Native American ever to be inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame on November 10, 2007.

Giago has received many professional awards including the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 1991, The South Dakota Education Association/National Education Human and Civil Rights Award in 1988, the Golden Quill Award for Outstanding Editorial Writing by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in 1997, and Best Local Column by the South Dakota Newspaper Association for the years 1985 and 2003 and the Great Spirits Award from the Navajo Institute of Social Justice in September of 2004. The Harvard Foundation honored him in 1991 for his contributions to the growth of American Indian newspapers and Indian journalism.

In 1975 his weekly television show, The First Americans, made its debut on KEVN in Rapid City, SD. It became the first weekly television show hosted and produced by an American Indian on a commercial television station.

His books include “The Aboriginal Sin” and “Notes from Indian Country” Volumes I and II. Giago also edited and helped write “The American Indian and the Media.” His new book, “Children Left Behind” was published in August of 2006 by Clear Light Book Publishing, Inc., Santa Fe, NM.

He has served on many boards including three years on the Freedom Forum Board of Advisors with Allen Neuharth, founder of USA Today, and on the Running Strong for America Board with Billy Mills, the winner of the 10,000 meter Gold Medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

A column by Giago challenging Republican Governor George Mickelson of South Dakota to proclaim 1990 a Year of Reconciliation to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee was accepted by the Governor and 1990 was proclaimed The Year of Reconciliation between Indians and whites.

That same year an editorial by Giago challenged Gov. Mickelson to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day. The legislators voted in favor of it and South Dakota became the only state in the union to celebrate Native American Day as a state holiday.

He has appeared on national television on shows such as Nightline, the Oprah Winfrey Show and NBC News with Tom Brokaw. He has also been featured in many magazines such as Newsweek and People Magazines. His weekly column, Notes from Indian Country, appears nationally in many newspapers and it also appears in many South Dakota newspapers as well as in many Indian newspapers and on the websites of indianz.com, nativetimes.com and huffingtonpost.com.

Giago has lectured on Indian issues at many colleges and universities including Harvard, MIT, UCLA, University of Illinois, Boise State, Chadron State, Bacone College, Nebraska Indian Community College, Florida A&M, University of Colorado, Navajo Community College at Shiprock, NM, and Miami of Ohio University to name a few.

His weekly column is distributed by McClatchey News Service (formerly Knight Ridder) in Washington, DC.

In 2009 Giago formed a 2010 Unity Committee and petitioned Republican Gov. Mike Rounds to proclaim 2010 as the Year of Unity between Indians and whites. The Governor signed the proclamation on Feb. 19, 2010. Since that signing several events have been held in South Dakota bringing Indian and whites together and the Central States Fair, the Black Hills Powwow and the Lakota Nation Invitational Tournament have all been dedicated to the Year of Unity.




(Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

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