Reznet

MTV's Native Voice

By Sunnie Redhouse

On the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, Christine Begay took her MTV-issued video
camera to the University of New Mexico and asked students what is important to them.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—It's three in the morning, and Christine Begay is still editing video. On it are the concerns of young America, but most of the footage she will never use. The finished product could be seen by millions of people.

After spending eight hours helping Native American college students across the country get money for college, more work awaits her in her Albuquerque home.

"Some days I come home from work and go straight to editing," Begay said. "Sometimes I'm up till two or three in the morning."

It's Begay's job with MTV's Street Team '08 that keeps her up in the late hours of the night, but it's the cause that keeps her motivated.

MTV selected Begay to represent New Mexico for its Street Team '08, under the Emmy-winning "Choose or Lose" campaign, as a citizen journalist covering youth concerns, views and issues during the presidential campaign.

She is the only Native American to participate in the program that has covered every presidential election since 1992. Begay is Yankton Lakota, Arikara and Navajo.

"I didn't know what the pool was, what chances I would have," Begay said about applying for the program.

After graduating from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., in April 2007 with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Begay was looking for her calling. She found it in a Internet advertisement.

"I was looking for my first job after graduation," Begay said. "They (MTV) had an advertisement, and I just clicked it."

Much to her surprise the simple click led to the biggest opportunity of a lifetime—a chance to shine light on Native American issues during a crucial election year.

From about 600 applicants nationwide, Begay was one of 51 chosen, and given a task that many 23 year olds would be reluctant to accept.

Begay flew to MTV headquarters in New York City to learn of her duties, meet her colleagues and pick up the equipment she would be using on the job.

With her MTV equipment, Begay travels throughout New Mexico interviewing for articles and video reports. On one occasion just before the New Mexico caucus, MTV shipped Begay and other Street Team colleagues high-tech Nokia videophones to send live reports during the caucus.

Although Begay and the rest of the citizen journalists didn't get to keep the phones, she enjoyed using it for the time she did.

"There were other news media outlets there with their big cameras, and there I was holding up a phone," Begay said. "People were looking at me like, 'What is she doing?' "

All of Begay's work is posted on her profile on MTV's Think Web site.

"We were extremely impressed with Christine's work from the beginning," said Jason Rzepka, director of communications for MTV. Rzepka said Begay was exactly what MTV was looking for during the intense application process.

"We set out to find the strongest applicants," Rzepka said. "We went to great lengths to make sure there was a balance in diversity."

Begay proved to be a prime example of the diversity MTV desired.

While Begay's contract with MTV requires her to report views from young people in New Mexico, the opportunity allows her to touch on issues that concern Native American communities throughout the state. New Mexico is home to 22 tribes and nearly 192,000 Native people, who comprise 9.8 percent of the state population.

"I really think my reason for doing this is to cover Indian Country," Begay said. "Everybody knows the African American struggles, (but) what about us? That's always been in my mind, even when I was younger."

The opportunity is one Begay said she's been looking for, ever since she and her parents drove down the dirty streets of her hometown of Gallup, N.M, and saw that her people lived in poverty-like conditions.

Begay said being the only Native American on Street Team comes with a great deal of responsibility to Native people, New Mexico and readers and viewers everywhere.

"I've actually been sent e-mails from people saying you're the only Native American (so) you need to step up your game,' " Begay said. "The stories may be the only story they (non-Natives) will ever see on Native Americans."

Begay has found it challenging to decide what to cover and when to cover it. Perhaps it's due to her lack of formal journalism experience and multimedia training—or maybe it's because of the balancing she has to do with both her jobs.

"It's been a big obstacle finding the time," Begay said. "(I'm) just trying to go to work and do both, but there are just opportunities."

Besides reeling in articles, blogs and monthly videos, Begay works as a student adviser at the American Indian Graduate Center, a non-profit organization that tries to financially aid Native American college students throughout the country.

Rzepka said MTV is very fortunate to have someone like Begay bringing in new and interesting ideas.

"We very much appreciate her vantage point as a Native American," Rzepka said. "What we really want her to do is reflect the concerns of young people in America.

"She is a one-woman band, indeed, figuring out what's the best way to tell that story."

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Christine Begay's Street Team '08 profile
MTV's Choose or Lose Election Coverage
Press release about MTV's Street Team '08

Sunnie Redhouse, Navajo, is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. A graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute and a Chips Quinn Scholar, Redhouse interned at Sports Illustrated last summer. This summer she'll intern as a reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune under the Sports Journalism Institute internship program.

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