Much to my annoyance, a report in one of the Honolulu-area newspapers described an overweight man who was Japanese and Polish, but was “easily mistaken for Hawaiian.” In a well-intentioned response to complaints from the Native Hawaiian community, the reporter admitted he attributed the man’s overweight condition and dark complexion to being Hawaiian. Bad reporting techniques such as this are what encourage the continuation of stereotypes throughout the world. A professional whom I recently worked with in Washington, D.C. argued with me about my heritage. “No, you’re not Hawaiian. Hawaiians are dark.”

Mainstream media is different in many ways from native news sources. Larger newspapers have a very broad audience to reach and appeal to a mainstream American culture. The news events reported and the style they are reported in are reflective of the target audience and specific rules of reporting. Mainstream newspapers have a tendency to objectify other countries and cultures, making them more exotic and entertaining for the audience to read. The journalist who wrote the Honolulu story later admitted that since a picture of the man was included in his story, he felt compelled to say his subject appeared to be Hawaiian to spur the curiosity of his audience, when in reality this man’s ethnicity had no role in the report.

Various communities have operated their own newspapers for years. Many of these newspapers feature mainstream interest stories published in various languages such as Korean, Tagalog and Spanish. Japanese communities often also publish their newspapers in reverse printing, back-to-front style, as is common in Japan. Also printed are stories for specific communities in cities that are printed in English. Native communities are no strangers to having their own newspapers. Hawaiian language newspapers originated in the early 1800s, but disappeared due to censorship by the U.S. government. They felt that such press was reflective of an anti-American sentiment. However, present times have seen resurgence in native media.

There are endless benefits to non-mainstream news sources. The most obvious of the benefits is being able to read uncensored reports regarding many current actions of the U.S. Congress and of the current circumstances of many native communities regarding self-determination, education, health care and the economy. In mainstream press, the situations are often glorified to reflect happy, peaceful natives. Native presses allow stories to be told as-is. Stories lose a biased perspective, and the Associated Press styling nearly goes out the window as each writer is allowed to use their culturally preferred terminology and grammar, be it their home area, their culture name or titles of community members, which would face editing in mainstream sources. Similarly, many native communities have smaller local newspapers of the same fashion, often translated into native languages.

As oral traditions and history have importance in the cultures and lifestyles of native people, newspapers and printed media have become a way to mix traditions of days past with contemporary conveniences. Communities now look at newspapers as a continuation and modification of storytelling and sharing news between themselves. Present-day media have replaced messengers and serve as storytellers. Native communities have come to value the printed word as a means of continuing the ways of old. However, with inadequate reporting, the mainstream media can instead turn the media into an extension of imperialism.

Mainstream newspapers are progressively adjusting to a more culturally accepting world. I haven’t neglected to realize the freedom of speech that grants my opinion and the fact that I write for a mostly mainstream source. Occasionally, some mainstream papers have adjusted to a more local community and are bringing a diverse voice into their features. Yet, there is still a long way to go to successfully introduce native and minority community voices into mainstream press with more comfort and less objectification. While it is a success that smaller communities are able to maintain their own presses, this only allows them to make their stories and opinions available locally. In cooperation with larger mainstream presses, they could reach a larger audience, and in turn bring reality nationwide that will help to eradicate irrelevant stereotypes in existence.