Mainstream news outlets continue to ignore Indigenous people or cover them inadequately, resulting in mistrust and alienation by the former towards the latter. Yet, ways to meet Indigenous peoples’ needs for accurate media representation is understudied and undertheorized. Based on 16 in-depth interviews with Native and Indigenous citizens, we develop a conceptual framework of situated multidimensional representation to elucidate the agentic processes for citizen journalists to empower members of various tribal affiliations. Findings reveal that citizen journalists’ situated knowledge and expertise encourages humanizing Indigenous people, engenders media trust through evoking feelings of relatability and belonging, and strengthens Indigenous identity by foregrounding the focus on complex personhood. Our analysis highlights a need for transforming conventional journalistic values and relationship building practices to incorporate marginalized Indigenous perspectives. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

主流新闻媒体继续无视土著人民或掩盖他们的不足，导致前者对后者的不信任和疏远。但是，对于满足土著人民对准确媒体代表的需求的方法，却缺乏研究和理论基础。在对土著和土著居民进行16次深入采访的基础上，我们开发了一个位于多维代表形式的概念框架，以阐明公民记者增强各个部落联系成员的代理过程。调查结果表明，公民新闻工作者所处的知识和专长可以鼓励土著人民人性化，通过唤起相对性和归属感来增强媒体信任，并通过将重点放在复杂的人格上来增强土著身份。我们的分析强调需要转变传统的新闻价值观和建立关系的做法，以纳入边缘化的土著观点。讨论了理论和实践意义。