OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Media Center and the Indigenous Journalists Association are coming together on November 6th to present a special screening of Sundance and deadCenter-winning documentary “Bad Press” to raise money and support for journalistic freedom at a time when it’s needed most.
With the Pentagon alienating nearly its entire press corps with draconian new media oversight rules, the White House hand-picking which journalists and outlets are allowed entry, and government officials exerting iron-fisted control over media organizations, this might seem like a shocking and unprecedented time for attacks on press freedom.
But if you’ve been paying attention to recent years inside tribal governments and tribal press outlets right here in Oklahoma, then you know it all sounds worryingly familiar.
The 2023 feature documentary “Bad Press” sees journalist/filmmaker Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and reporter Angel Ellis attempting to navigate, defy, and overturn one such blatant incursion into the freedom of the press by a tribal government when the leaders of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation stripped free press protections overnight in 2018.
With Mvskoke Media, the tribal nation’s only dedicated media outlet, Ellis spent years pushing back and working tirelessly to win back those freedoms with Landberry-Baker and co-director Joe Peeler documenting the struggle and ultimately creating a beacon for how to fight for free press protections with the film “Bad Press.”
We literally cannot be complicit in our own demise.– Mvskoke Media Director and “Bad Press” star Angel Ellis
With those same incursions being carried out nationally, Ellis – now the Director of Mvskoke Media and Vice President of the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) – is presenting the film at Will Rogers Theatre in a one-night fundraising event as Friends of the Free Press, featuring a panel discussion with Landsberry-Baker.
“As a journalist, I firmly believe we get one carte blanche crack at advocacy, and that’s for free press,” Ellis told OKC Free Press in a call ahead of the event. “We literally cannot be complicit in our own demise. And I feel this to my core when I think of journalism, we have to set aside parts of our day, every day, to defend press freedom and defend the freedom of information.”
That’s the aim of the Friends of the Free Press event, a co-fundraiser for the IJA and the Oklahoma Media Center, organizations providing resources and support for independent and local-level journalism outlets in Oklahoma like Oklahoma City Free Press.
Landsberry-Baker knows well the importance of that kind of independent support, and what can happen when it’s lost.
She was on the editorial board for Mvskoke Media when that board was abruptly dissolved following the rescission of press freedoms in 2018, and she has gone on to lead the IJA as Executive Director in addition to directing and developing “Bad Press.”
“It’s unfortunate that this film is so relevant on so many levels,” Landsberry-Baker told Free Press in that same call, “comparing it to our national political landscape right now, also to our own Muscogee Nation, because we have an election coming up. Some of the same players from the film are back and trying to get back into that same power, and now some other tribes are taking that same Trump playbook and running with it. So unfortunately, it’s as relevant as ever.”
That’s why the IJA and the Oklahoma Media Center have come together to present the Friends of the Free Press event with this film, not only to remind viewers of the struggles of the past, but to encourage them to look and see the same fights repeating in the present.
Because a blow to press freedom anywhere is an attack on press freedom everywhere.
“The Indigenous community has always been the canary in the mine, and you really have to pay attention to what’s happening there,” Ellis said. “This film was released in 2023 and here we sit in 2025 with the FCC doing god knows what. It’s still happening. We cannot ever rest on our laurels when it comes to press freedom.”
The Friends of the Free Press fundraising event takes place Thursday, November 6th at OKC’s Will Rogers Theatre with a screening of the film “Bad Press” followed by a discussion and Q&A with director Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Angel Ellis of Mvskoke Media.
Tickets can be purchased here with funds helping to support the Oklahoma Media Center and the Indigenous Journalists Association.
Brett Fieldcamp is our Arts and Entertainment Editor. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for 15+ years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
