My role as MTFP’s editor gives me a very particular view of our newsroom and the work our reporters produce. Because while I rarely write more than a story summary myself, I do get to help direct our articles’ journeys all the way from hunch to headline. And a lot happens along that path. We strategize our sourcing, double-check our data, re-confirm our facts and workshop our word choice to get our stories as close to impeccable as possible. Sometimes that journey is launched and finished inside of two hours at a single reporter’s desk. Other times it takes a month and the combined smarts of the whole newsroom.
So my view, from well behind the byline, has a tendency to privilege these processes over any particular finished product. The processes — the methodical and measured ways in which we assemble the news you see on our homepage and in your inbox — are how we help ensure that Montana Free Press will continue to be accurate, thorough, reliable and relatable to Montanans for years to come, no matter who might be sitting in the editor’s chair, or which reporter is covering whatever beat in 2023. That often invisible work is a big part of how we’re building an institution that’s designed to last.
So when I look back at some of my favorite MTFP stories of the past year, I can’t help but see the processes and protocols that went into producing them. All the little procedural boxes checked and milestones marked on the road to publication. But if we’re doing our jobs well, all you’ll see are stories that reward the time you spend reading them.
Here are just a few that, for a variety of reasons, most deeply rewarded mine.
The grizzly Rorschach test
If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes NCDE and Yellowstone grizzlies from the United States’ list of endangered and threatened species, Montana will assume full management authority of those bears — something it hasn’t had since Lower 48 grizzlies became one of the first species to join the Endangered Species List in 1975. Stakeholders…
A small-town reporter’s fight to open Montana’s judicial appointment process
An advisory council appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy in the 9th Judicial District held interviews and deliberations this week behind closed doors, despite the efforts of the Choteau Acantha.
Gianforte’s son one of many lobbying governor against trans bills
In late March, David Gianforte made an appointment to talk about three bills with Montana’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, who happens to be his father. David, 32, sat down in the governor’s office on March 27 with a prepared statement about legislation affecting transgender Montanans and the LGBTQ+ community generally, to which David says he…
Interactive: Can you balance the state budget?
With the end of the 2023 Legislature looming, lawmakers face tough choices on tax rebates, housing and childcare, among other issues. Our interactive tool lets you experiment with how those choices could shift the state’s bottom line.
Electric City’s political pivot
Each time Democrat Jon Tester won his hard-fought U.S. Senate races in Montana, he celebrated the victory at election-night parties in Great Falls, the working-class city on the banks of the Missouri River. But as Tester goes for a fourth consecutive Senate win in 2024, the city that’s been his political backyard and a once-Democratic…
Reading between the front lines
From ‘Gender Queer’ to Marxism, Montana’s libraries are emerging as the latest flashpoint in a culture clash over community standards.
How artificial intelligence plus local expertise can promote ‘good fire’ in Montana
An emerging risk-based framework called PODs aims to improve firefighter safety, support fire-adapted communities, and get more of the right fire in the right place at the right time. Will it take hold in Montana?
‘One project for the people of Montana’
“Bleu Horses,” a herd of 39 life-sized metal sculptures, stands sentinel across a 160-acre parcel of sloping prairie adjacent to Highway 287, which runs between Three Forks and Helena. Dolan installed the sculptures in 2013, just north of mile marker 104.
Homeless advocates call for compassion after homeless man beaten to death in Kalispell
The killing comes as the community struggles to deal with a growing homeless population that has become the subject of strong rhetoric from local officials — rhetoric that some say may have led to the deadly assault.
Neighboring business owner, community members weigh in on Helena’s proposed shelter
The zoning commission meeting gave community members, downtown business owners and neighborhood residents an opportunity to comment on the proposed shelter. About 27 people spoke in support of the shelter and its location; another dozen raised their objections.
Cascade County relieves clerk and recorder of election duties
The Cascade County Commission voted 2-1 to strip Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant of her election duties, joining a half-dozen other Montana counties who employ non-elected, nonpartisan election administrators.
Boarding school survivors share traumas at Road to Healing event in Bozeman
Adeline Fox, now 77, still remembers her grandpa dropping her off at the school bus to go to boarding school at St. Labre Indian Mission Boarding School in Ashland. He told her not to speak their Cheyenne language at the school, to speak only English, and he warned her that her hair was going to…
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Union and governor’s office sign agreement to reduce state employees’ healthcare rate hike
Healthcare insurance costs for state employees will go up in January, though a bargaining agreement between the Montana Federation of Public Employees and the office of Gov. Greg Gianforte has mitigated some of the spikes that the Montana Department of Administration announced at the end of August.
Grand Teton National Ballpark? Visitors call it a field of nightmares.
Park visitors greet news of a potential MLB game in front of the Tetons with disbelief.
Confusion and angst follow state’s early rollout of Medicaid work rules
Medicaid advocates worry that the expedited timeline in some states will lead to thousands of people losing coverage because they’re confused about the new rules, even if they are eligible for the program — and that Montana may offer a troubling preview of what will happen nationwide next year. State health department officials maintain they are well prepared and told state lawmakers they plan to process roughly 5,000 enrollees monthly.
