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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Economic Development
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Native News Online, the sister publication of Tribal Business News, has joined the year-old URL Media as its 10th member and first Indigenous-led media organization.
URL Media is a network of high-performing media organizations that are BIPOC-owned and operated. The network launched in January 2021 with eight media companies from a range of cultures, formats, geographies and audiences.
“We are excited about our new affiliation with URL Media because we will now be able to uplift other BIPOC voices as well,” stated Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi), who founded Native News Online 11 years ago. “We look forward to sharing stories, opportunities, ideas and best practices with these high-performing BIPOC publications and their talented teams.”
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The for-profit URL Media aims to leverage the growing network to expand revenue opportunities for the member organizations, as well as share content, distribution and other resources, all with a focus on the sustainability of the members.
URL Media was founded by Sara Lomax-Reese, CEO of Philadelphia-based WURD Radio, a Black-owned talk radio station, and S. Mitra Kalita, a veteran journalist and media executive and publisher of the Epicenter-NYC newsletter. Kalita serves as the CEO of URL Media.
The pair established URL Media in response to the 2020 racial justice movement to better address the chronic underfunding and underrepresentation of BIPOC communities, particularly in the mainstream media.
“We are thrilled to welcome Native News Online as our first Indigenous partner. The truth is that the narrative of America is incomplete without this vital, foundational perspective,” Kalita said in a statement. “We look forward to working to amplify their powerful storytelling and platform.”
In a Jan. 24 broadcast about the network’s one-year anniversary, Kalita shared that Native News Online’s coverage about the role of Native elders to help get their communities through the COVID-19 pandemic resonated with her and led her to seek out a partnership with the publication.
In addition to Native News Online, current URL Media members include WURD Radio, Epicenter-NYC, Documented, Scalawag, The Haitian Times, TBN24, ScrollStack, Palabra and Sahan Journal.
According to reports, URL Media has received funding from the International Women’s Media Foundation and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Foundation.
