This piece, from the Akela Flats Journal, is about an ongoing dispute between the Fort Sill Apache of New Mexico and the state about creating a casino on their reservation.
The reporter, Dan Frosch, made extensive use of both scene-setting and tribal history in the first part of the article. This provided grounding for the reader, and allowed them to fully understand the context of the current conflict.
Frosch went to the reservation and spoke with the tribal chairman. He also spoke with the tribe's lawyer and the mayor pro tem of a town near the reservation. To represent the other side of the conflict, he interviewed a spokesperson for the Interior Department and did an email interview with a spokesperson for the governor of New Mexico.
There are, of course, a lot of stereotypes about Native American reservations and casinos. Frosch avoids these by making the story more about the conflict and its history than about the casino itself. In order to do this, he represents both sides thoroughly, explaining what is at stake for both. This equalizes them to some degree, but also, I think, leaves the reader on the side of the tribe.
The story, with its vivid scenes and rich history, shows the reader that what is most important to tribe members is to regain land they lost in the 19th century, and that building a casino is a way to do so.
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