The Burn Issue

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE BURN ISSUE MJR 2016 ABOUT MJR 2 REPORTING FROM THE PERIPHERY 3 2016 STAFF 4 MONTANA SCORING THE DOLEZAL DEBRIEF 6 BILLING THE BEREAVED 7 DIGGING DEEPER BY THE WEEK 8 THE LANGUAGE OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY 9 RECORDS GO ONLINE 10 MUGSHOTS AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW 11 MONTANA BRINGS SHIELD LAWS ONLINE 12 THE WEST GOOD COP, BAD PRESS 27 BUCKING CENSORSHIP OF STUDENT SPEECH 28 EAST COAST STORY SHAKES LOCAL PRESS 30 THE RELUCTANT YOUTUBE SENSATION 31 NEW APP PROSPECTS FOR TOURISTS 32 USING ANALYTICS TO NEGOTIATE CONTRACTS 33 COVER STORY JOURNALISTS ON THE WILDFIRE BEAT 34 EXTRA: CROWDSOURCING FIRE SCIENCE 39 EXTRA: FIRE, WEATHER AND CLIMATE 39 EXTRA: BURNT BUDGETS 40 EXTRA: POLITICIANS KNOCK DRONES DOWN 40 FEATURES 4 WAYS TO BETTER FREELANCE PAY 13 DECLINE OF THE CAPITAL BUREAU 17 Q&A: “WE DON’T ALWAYS ANSWER THE WHY.” 20 HIGH SCHOOL PAPER REIGNITED 22 THE BUDDING COVERAGE OF MARIJUANA 46 ANATOMY OF AN EDITORIAL BURN WOUND 50 LAWS OF WAR LEAVE JOURNALISTS AS TARGETS 53 A STRICT NO COMMENTS POLICY 57 FORECAST THE SHADOWY WEB OF NATIVE ADVERTISING 61 SCIENTISTS BREAK THE STORIES OF 2016 62 Q&A: IRA GLASS ON TELLING ONE GOOD STORY 64 JOURNALISM ETHICS NEED A RADICAL REBOOT 65 THE MONTANA FILM TO SEE THIS YEAR 66 THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT WORKING ONLINE 68

MJR 2016 1 ABOUT

Journalism, by its nature, is outward- and neighboring regions, offering a bold, looking. We survey the world and take affectionate and sometimes irreverent look. note of our surroundings We are gatherers Each year, we tackle a theme and ex- of information, learning and absorbing so plore its many facets and interpretations. that we may process, analyze and report Our departments focus on media coverage back to an audence. But it has always been in Montana, the West and the year to come, necessary for journalists to periodically turn while our feature stories take a long-form ap- our attention inward, surveying our own proach to issues both domestic and global. reflection for flaws. As the oldest journalism review in the That mirror can be messy, and while country, MJR has its roots in tradition while scrutiny of East Coast media hubs is prev- striving to evolve with new digital storytell- alent, journalism in the West is often over- ing methods. Founded in 1958 by J-School looked. But Montana and the rest of the Dean Nathaniel Blumberg, the magazine West are not immune to the complications is produced by journalism students at the and issues the industry faces. University of Montana and has been under At Montana Journalism Review, we the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Henriette pursue stories that cover media in our state Löwisch since 2012. t

2 ISSUE 45 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

REPORTING FROM THE PERIPHERY

Nine million acres across the United that is often necessary, but it leaves little capital bureau to freelancers negotiating States went up in flames in 2015, along with room to step away from the cycle and report business deals, we probed several ways more than half of the Forest Service’s annual deeper, see wider. Context falls short. But as journalists are feeling the burn. budget. Old growth forests in Washington renowned photographer and Guggenheim We dove into culture desks along the and Oregon, peat bogs in Alaska and Fellow Donald Weber summarizes in his Pacific Coast and the Rocky Mountain subdivisions in California fueled the fires. advice to storytellers, “the periphery is where slopes where newsrooms are lighting up Every year, reporters across the country it’s at.” with reviews and commentary on legalized recount the many stories of spreading For our 2016 cover story, we sent staff marijuana. wildfire. Every year, many miss the bigger writer Andrew Graham and photographer And we ourselves came under fire after picture. Jake Green out to find what journalists are the exposure of several errors in last year’s Contrary to public belief, the number missing as they cover the wildfire beat. Their cover story. of wildfires lighting up the West is not rising. story, “Lost in the Smoke,” is a dispatch from This year’s staff took a hard look at our Individual fires are, however, burning bigger the periphery, a stab at getting a handle on fact-checking system, analyzed what went and burning longer, and the Forest Service is some of that context. wrong in MJR’s last issue and changed the left to play “catch up” instead of proactively In the wake of such a volatile fire season, workflow to ensure an even higher level managing the burns. as well as several metaphorical house fires of self-scrutiny. We expanded our social As journalists join this annual circus, closer to home, the word “burn” struck us as presence to include behind-the-scenes they become trapped on a merry-go-round a singularly apt theme for all the features in stories on Medium.com and reimagined our of coverage that is merely reactive instead our magazine. It led us to a vast and playful website to archive this and past issues’ stories of critical. Acres burned, communities breadth of stories, a variety of literal and and artwork. evacuated, structures lost, repeat. figurative paths to explore. After a semester of hard work, we feel There is a practicality to such news From a legacy publisher closing its ready to take the heat. t

NICKY OUELLET CELIA TALBOT TOBIN HENRIETTE LÖWISCH MANAGING EDITOR, EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR, CREATIVE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MJR 2016 3 2016 STAFF

NICKY OUELLET CELIA TALBOT TOBIN TANA WILSON MANAGING EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR MARKETING DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTOR

ERIN LORANGER ANDREW GRAHAM REAGAN COLYER SENIOR EDITOR STAFF WRITER COPY CHIEF CONTRIBUTOR

HUNTER SCHMITZ EVAN FROST JACOB GREEN COPY EDITOR MULTIMEDIA EDITOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER CONTRIBUTOR

DECLAN LAWSON KATIE HOFSCHIELD ALYSSA DILLON DESIGNER DESIGNER DESIGNER CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR

4 ISSUE 45 2016 STAFF

SHANTI JOHNSON TAYLOR WYLLIE HUNTER PAULI SENIOR EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR

AILENE CAMACHO BREE ZENDER CLAIRE BURGESON COPY EDITOR COPY EDITOR COPY EDITOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR

DAYTON SMITH HANNAH-LAURA RUDOLPH OLIVIA KEITH VIDEOGRAPHER ART DIRECTOR DESIGNER CONTRIBUTOR

SUZIE CHIEM CHRISTIAN GRANT SCOTT HAWK SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS EDITOR WEB EDITOR CONTRIBUTOR

MJR 2016 5 MONTANA

Local scoop Scoring the Dolezal debrief

BY BREE ZENDER

Brennen Rupp was terrified when he only interviewed people for sports stories tant to publish a story about Rachel Dolezal. stepped into the small Christian school in before the Dolezals. He said the story had already gotten too Libby, Montana. He was looking for Ruth- “I found out from the people that work much attention from the national media. anne Dolezal, mother of Rachel Dolezal— there that this is where Rachel is from — “He thought that the one story did it the head of the Spokane NAACP who re- Libby, Montana. I was like, are you kidding justice,” Rupp said. “And he didn’t want to signed after her parents outed her as a white me?” he said. “In one of my first two weeks keep going on and on about the story be- woman. She identified as African American. working there I can do this huge potential cause he thought that people were probably Rupp had started working for The story.” getting sick of it.” Western News, Libby’s local paper, when the When Rupp arrived, the bi-week- Rupp pursued the interview none- Dolezal story broke. He saw the video in- ly had covered the sensational story about theless. He had a difficult time getting in terview in which an ABC broadcast affiliate its famous local on tiptoes, relying solely contact with Dolezal’s parents and tracked in Spokane confronted her about her racial on Associated Press copy. Other Montana Ruthanne down by finding her at her work- identity and watched the story spread to na- news organizations also relied mostly on AP place. When he identified himself as a re- tional outlets like BuzzFeed News, Gawker stories. Some ran editorials and letters to porter, he said Ruthanne Dolezal “kind of and MSNBC. the editor about their opinions on Rachel went white.” Ruthanne Dolezal and her husband, Dolezal’s racial identity. She granted him the interview because Larry, talked to many national news sources The Missoulian wrote about the story’s he was from the local paper and was able but later disconnected their phone and re- effect on the Dolezals in mid-June, but was to relate to her in a way others couldn’t, fused to talk to any Montana media after the unable to contact her parents. The article Rupp said. national firestorm. Until Rupp. ran in two other Montana papers, despite Maybe after being burned by the na- A college football recruit before writing having no comment from Dolezal’s parents. tional media, it’s easier to talk to somebody for a sports beat in Minnesota, Rupp had Rupp’s editor, Bob Henline, was hesi- your own size. t

PHOTO BY AARON ROBERT KATHMAN VIA CREATIVE COMMONS

6 ISSUE 45 MONTANA Obituaries Billing the bereaved BY ALYSSA DILLON Out of 19 Montana newspapers contacted, 8 said they started charging for obituaries in 2010. As if paying for a funeral wasn’t expen- sive enough, small-town obituaries now have a price tag to boot. The trend of small papers charging for obituaries only started within the decade, and for many, just within the past five years. These papers are from towns of 20,000 people or fewer and charge an average of $20 per obituary. While small-town newspapers explore obituaries as a new source of revenue, larger dailies continue to increase their prices. Obituaries have become an industry of their own, earning an annual revenue of $421 million, with an average cost of $190 per obit, according to the Inland Press Associa- tion, a not-for-profit with the goal of helping newspapers increase profit margins. Seeley Lake, Montana, resident Sheila Murphy recently attempted placing a 150 word obituary with both the Great Falls Tri- bune and the Missoulian. For the same obit, Murphy said, the Tribune wanted more than double what the Missoulian asked for, nearly $120. Montanans like Murphy now have to pick and choose where to place their obits based on prices, rather than on the paper’s proximity to the deceased’s hometown. But there are still some newspapers that view obituaries as a free public service. The Choteau Acantha is one of them. The paper’s editors and publishers, Melody and Jeff Mar- tinsen, said “we don’t think the life of a person should be reduced to the cost of inches in newsprint.” t

INFOGRAPHIC BY OLIVIA KEITH

MJR 2016 7 MONTANA

PHOTO BY EVAN FROST

College news Montana Kaimin digs deeper in weekly format BY KEVIN VAN VALKENBURG

The media landscape is changing rapid- ing news and analysis for the web. They’re ly, and student-run media like the Montana still working on striking the right balance Kaimin are no different. In April 2015, the between the two, but I’m confident it’s Kaimin shifted from publishing four times helping mold journalists who are better suit- a week to publishing a print edition once a ed to tackle the modern media world than week and publishing every day on the web, ever before. t including weekends. It hasn’t been a simple transition, nor did Kevin Van Valkenburg, a 2000 graduate of the the newspaper staff expect it to be one. But University of Montana School of Journalism, is a senior the new model is teaching students to excel, writer with ESPN The Magazine. He lives in Baltimore adapt and master different kinds of writing. with his wife Jen and their two daughters. He advised They’re focusing on features and long-form the Kaimin and was the fall 2015 T. Anthony Pollner writing for the paper, and smart, quick, break- Distinguished Professor at the UM School of Journalism.

8 ISSUE 45 MONTANA LGBTQ coverage Learning the language of gender and sexuality BY DECLAN LAWSON Gender and sexuality issues took the national media by storm in 2015, from hate crimes against transgender people to the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage. But policies guiding journalists on how to articulate stories with sensitive content is not always consistent.

Montana Journalism Review surveyed nine news organizations in Montana to identify their policies on the LGBTQ acronym and gender pronouns.

Style No Acronym Organization guide policy used In their Words

KPAX respects source requests for using gender KPAX 8 Missoula LGBT X pronouns.

“As far as pronoun selection, we haven’t had an instance where we had to ask the person we were interviewing whether they considered KRTV 3 Great Falls LGBT / LGBTQ X themselves ‘he’ or ‘she.’ It’s usually very evident during the interview,” said News Director Joel Lundstad.

KTMF/KWYB ABC reporters try to be “conscious and LGBT ABC Fox Montana X sensitive” when it comes to transgender stories.

“It hasn’t come up yet,” said Managing Miles City--Star X LGBT Editor Marla Prell of creating a policy for gender pronouns.

LGBT in headlines GFT tries to be sensitive when reporting on LGTIQ or LGBTQ in Great Falls Tribune X LGBTQ issues in the community. story

The Indy follows guidelines set by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Missoula LGBT Association Stylebook Supplement on Lesbian, Independent a Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Terminology.

YPR follows the National Public Radio Ethics Handbook: for each story, reporters ask sources Yellowstone Public a Read in full to introduce themselves with preferred Radio (Billings) pronouns during sound check.

Montana Public Radio X Read in full MTPR reporters use preferred pronouns.

In interviews, reporters ask sources to identify Trail 103.3 Read in full themselves with pronouns, job titles or personal (Missoula) X titles.

MJR 2016 9 MONTANA

State Archives Records go online BY CLAIRE BURGESON

With Montana joining the growing Publications Librarian Jim Kammerer said. number of states with digital library archives, But some question if these digital files are researchers from all over the world can now as durable as paper and microfilm. University access state documents without buying a of Montana librarians say to ensure lasting plane ticket. access to digital publications, there must be Since 2008, the Montana State Library constant diligence on preservation. Should has digitized 8.7 terabytes of information, or they get corrupted or their formats outdated, over 23,000 historical state documents. The a piece of information can be lost forever. documents go back to the 1800s and one can For now, online accessibility trumps find everything from local newspapers to bear longevity. So historians hoping to get in some management plans. Researchers have already fly-fishing while on a research trip to Montana downloaded 3.5 million documents, State should hide this article from their funders.t

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN HAWK Ryan Hawk is a graphic artist and motion designer, freelancer for many and avid green tea enthusiast.

10 ISSUE 45 MONTANA

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN HAWK Mugshots Clarifying the public’s right to know BY OLIVIA KEITH

In Montana, a state recognized for Police Lt. Clifford Larson of the Park jail occupancy and initial arrest records are its “right to know” laws, newspapers can County Detention Center said his office public information. Several Montana county usually count on access to booking photos of has always seen booking photos as private attorneys are interpreting “photographs” to convicted felons; not so for the Livingston to convicted individuals, and has never mean booking photos, Meloy said. Enterprise and The Big Timber Pioneer. made them available to the media. A 10th Judicial District Court judge The Livingston Enterprise was To challenge and clarify the statute ruled in favor of the Enterprise’s request repeatedly denied requests for mug shots and force the Park Detention Center to for the mugshot of an inmate in late of arrested persons at the Park and Gallatin supply the booking photos, Post contacted October, on the grounds that the photo County Detention Centers, due to what Park County Attorney Bruce Becker and couldn’t be used as evidence. Big Timber Enterprise Editor Justin Post calls vague Montana Freedom of Information Hotline Pioneer editor Lindsey Kroskob called it a wording in Montana’s Criminal Justice lawyer Mike Meloy. small victory. Information Act (CJIA) of 1979. Becker filed a motion on behalf “The fact that he said that the photo In the end, it took a judge to get the of Park County, asking the court to had no evidentiary value is significant,” detention center to cough up the photos. clear up the statute’s vague meaning. she said. But the larger question of how to interpret The statute states that “fingerprints and As MJR went to print, the larger issue Montana’s CJIA remains unaddressed. photographs” are confidential, but daily had yet to be addressed.t

MJR 2016 11 MONTANA

Digital protection Montana first to bring shield laws online BY ALEX DEEDY

In an era when the federal government “The real question was: do we need a court order comes in the mail. Plus, may- repeatedly pressures journalists to compro- to see an abuse occur before we start pro- be the idea will catch on. mise sources, legal protection for Montana tecting our rights?” Rep. Daniel Zolnikov, “What this bill does, I think, is call reporters got a bit stronger. the Billings Republican who sponsored the attention to the fact that there is a gap in The 2015 Montana Legislature over- legislation, said. most shield laws around the country which whelmingly passed a bill that extended the Mike Meloy, a Helena attorney who could be exploited,” Meloy said. state’s shield law into the digital realm. has long been a First Amendment advo- In Montana, that gap has been filled.t Now notes made in Google documents or cate, said the bill was more symbolic than on other online platforms and emails be- substantive. With one of the best shield A University of Montana journalism school tween reporters and sources are safe from laws in the country, Montana’s old law and Montana Journalism Review alum, Alex- state or local government subpoenas. would have likely covered digital servers. ander Deedy worked at the Helena Independent It’s the first law of its kind in the coun- The upside is third-party server opera- Record for over a year before moving to Hawaii try, and a proactive measure for Montana. tors now know to withhold information if to freelance.

ILLUSTRATION BY AUSTIN HOFSCHIELD Austin Hofschield lives in Los Altos, California. He is an aspiring actor and longbowman. 12 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

Freelancers ignite

4 ways to earn your fair share in the business BY AUSTIN SCHEMPP

hen Jacob Baynham capitalize on freelancers, who often lack pitched a story to a the business skills necessary to negotiate for travel magazine and fair pay. received an offer for Unstable financial models and the con- $1,000 in return for stant push to create more content faster—a writing about his experience traveling on result of the move toward mobile and on- horsebackW through Afghanistan’s Pamir line-first publishing—make it difficult for Mountains, he thought he had landed his a freelancer committed to producing well- first big break in freelance journalism. reported stories to earn a middle-class salary. When Baynham sent in photos, the But in the same digital environment magazine used them in advertisements to that shook the news industry and pillaged boost subscriptions. When he submitted his staff jobs, there are a few leaders driving the feature, the magazine “forgot” his byline. conversation of fair pay for independent And when he asked for his journalists. These voices are creating their $1,000 paycheck, the editor reassured own communities to act as buffers between Baynham money would come. It never did. freelance journalists and publications. Shortly after, the publisher went bankrupt. “I don’t know the rules of bankruptcy or whether he had to pay me, so he CREATING COMMUNITY didn’t,” said Baynham, now a freelancer living in Polson, Montana. He has published Scott Carney is helping turn the tide stories in magazines like Outside and Men’s in writers’ favor by building a community Journal. based on shared knowledge, a “Yelp” for “The editor kept toying with me, say- writers. ing, ‘Oh we’ll pay you.’ Eventually I had to Carney, an investigative journalist who’s walk away from it to stay sane because I’m written long features for magazines such as a very tenacious person, especially when it Wired, believes there’s money in publishing, comes to getting paid for something that if journalists negotiate. But they’re scared. you’ve done.” “It really comes down to a sense of Almost a decade hwas passed since writers feeling inferior, feeling like they’re re- Baynham was first burned. Since then, he placeable, like you feel like if you don’t take has slowly built up a solid portfolio and re- this offer right now they’re going to go to lationships mostly through the traditional some other writer,” Carney said. route of sending in story pitches to editors. Last spring, Carney published an open Baynham’s experience isn’t unique source Google Doc with a range of rates and exploitation of writers isn’t new. that magazines paid freelance writers. It be- Across the U.S., media organizations came so popular that it led him to start a Ü MJR 2016 13 FEATURE

Jacob Baynham rides a yak in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor in 2006, an experience he would later write about for Wend Magazine. PHOTO BY ANNA ELLIOT

Kickstarter campaign for a website that al- checks, and could be turned into documen- In 2013, Davis reported a story about lows writers to review editors, post the rate taries and movies. the economics of freelance publishing on- they were paid and compare contracts. It’s true that writers can get a paycheck line for a small online-only magazine, the Another facet of the website, by churning out a high volume of stories per Awl. What was unusual about Davis’s piece WordRates, which launched October 19, year, but Carney said this is more difficult was his transparency; he recounted the rates 2015, pairs journalists with story ideas with- and doesn’t make as much financial sense as magazines paid him for stories and admitted an experienced mentor to sell the pitch to trying to find a unique story and selling it at he was a poor negotiator. a magazine. It’s the same system as in book a higher rate. Then, in September 2015, Davis de- publishing. The website and mentors split “My feeling is that if I’m a creative per- cided to follow up on his first piece for the a 15 percent commission, with the goal of son I want to create the best possible thing Awl to show how the industry had changed. getting writers more money through negoti- that I can and I want it to go as far as it pos- His story, “If you don’t click on this story ation by a third party that isn’t emotionally sibly can,” Carney said. “Why would I waste I won’t get paid,” showed the instability of invested in the story. my energy writing something that’s going to online publishing ad models and how most “Call me a revolutionary, I think writ- get a couple views and then be forgotten in stories don’t actually make the publication ing contributes more than 10 percent of the a couple days?” break even. value to a magazine,” Carney said. “And After interviewing several sources in the right now magazines only pay about one DARE AND DELIVER industry, Davis found that rates had gen- percent of their advertising revenues to writ- erally improved since his story from 2013, ers. So I want to fix that. I want to correct Brooklyn freelancer Noah Davis un- thanks in large part to new online-only out- a great injustice that has been lumped on derstands the struggle of piecing together lets like Vox and Buzzfeed that look to com- writers’ heads.” shorter stories to earn a living. With the pete with traditional powerhouse magazines. Carney admits that PitchLab, a section competitive and limited nature of print But, as Davis writes, “The question of the website, will be selective. Mentors will magazine work, Davis and other freelancers is, how long will the relative good times of be looking for ideas that have strong poten- target online publications as a way to make getting paid to write on the web last? Even tial beyond print magazine stories, which money, but often this doesn’t add up to a liv- venture dollars are exhaustible. While a few still provide freelancers with the largest pay- able wage. sites will probably survive, the existing (and 14 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

future) business models can’t support all the needed to get out. ones that are currently vying for writers and “I didn’t want to be the last man stand- eyeballs.” ing in a job that was once so fulfilling and Davis believes fellow freelancers want amazing,” said Petersen, now a graduate to help each other out, but in an industry student and adjunct instructor at the Uni- that has a broken revenue model, he ques- versity of Montana School of Journalism. “I tions if there is even enough money to make covered the Iditarod for [the Chronicle], I their efforts for fair pay and rights worth floated the length of the Yellowstone River their time. from Gardiner to North Dakota… I had “It’s sort of a self -perpetuating thing. If done some really amazing projects and we it doesn’t succeed at first, then it’s not going weren’t able to do those anymore because the to succeed,” Davis said of these communi- staff was so thin.” ties. “What I’m trying to say is I think the Being a staff photographer in a small jury is still out.” Montana community where people recognized his face helped Petersen gain clients SIGN UP SUBSCRIBERS and make ends meet after leaving the Boz- eman Daily Chronicle. Even in a world that continues to see an Another Montana-based writer, Colter increase in remote workers, physical location Nuanez, also began work as a freelancer af- still presents its own unique challenges and ter leaving the Chronicle. The former sports advantages. editor joined a growing movement among Montana, despite its large area, has al- freelancers to find their own independent ways had a small media outlets—an oppor- market. There are no tunity presented by large-circulation maga- the same digital age zines like those found in that cut so many New York. Being a jour- jobs statewide. nalist in the Treasure “How long During his six State most likely means years in the news- working for a newspaper paper industry, Nu- or a television station or will the anez watched tal- going it alone. ented reporterslost Like in other states, relative good their jobs. Each staff jobs at Montana time, management media organizations can at the Chronicle be difficult to find and times of made it clear to present conditions that Nuanez that a raise are less than luxurious. wouldn’t be coming Because of this, getting paid anytime soon, de- storytellers like Erik spite the increased Petersen are turning workload. to freelance careers in to write on the “The corpora- order to pursue stories tion doesn’t really that may require more care about the qual- time than what’s afford- web last?” ity of the content,” ed in a newsroom. Nuanez said. “They For 12 years, Pe- would rather have tersen worked as a staff a young ambitious photographer for the Livingston Enterprise person who will work for overtime without and Bozeman Daily Chronicle in south- charging them, rather than someone who’s western Montana. As the newspapers’ ad been around the business for a long time and revenue declined and other photographers has good credentials.” lost their jobs, he found himself working to So Nuanez started his own subscrip- feed the daily grind. He felt unfulfilled. He tion-based blog. It has grown into Skyline Ü

MJR 2016 15 FEATURE Sports, a sports news website he runs with like his early days of freelancing, it’s a rare his brother, which covers Big Sky Confer- occasion when an editor won’t pay him for ence sports with a special Montana focus. his work. Nuanez said he’s already received praise Financially, he’s not worried. Baynham for his in-depth coverage, and that’s made has established enough relationships with the risk of freelancing worth it. He got tired editors and has found himself a niche in ad- of working overtime for a company that venture and travel writing. “continues to digress instead of progress.” He targets print magazines because “My advice to anyone is, can you rec- that’s where the money is. Call him old oncile within yourself to produce a prod- school, but he loves the sense of permanence uct that benefits an overall entity? In other that only ink can provide. words, do you believe in the entity you work Sometimes Baynham takes on writing at enough to produce quality content for the projects for marketing to fill in the gaps. But benefit of that entity and not yourself? If the he still makes room for stories he’s passionate answer is yes, then by all means keep work- about, ones he feels no other storyteller can ing for the magazine or newspaper that you share in the same way. work for. But if you find yourself wanting “If you feel passionate about a story more reward in terms of self-satisfaction and then it’s always worth writing the story, even financial gain, then freelancing is definitely if you’re not getting much money for it, and the way to go,” Nuanez said. the reason that is, is because passion shows,” he said. “You can see passion. You can read passion. When someone sees that story, that RELY ON RELATIONSHIPS could lead to future work.”t

Four hours from Bozeman, Pol- Austin Schempp is a recent graduate of the son-based Baynham isn’t a part of any free- University of Montana School of Journalism who has lance networks and like many independent reported stories for Runner’s World, the Associated writers, he usually doesn’t sign contracts Press and most recently, The Bulletin newspaper in when commissioned by an editor. But un- Bend, Oregon.

Co-founder of Skyline Sports Colter Nuanez interviews Montana State senior defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan in Bozeman, Montana on August 9, 2015 during fall football camp. PHOTO BY BROOKS NUANEZ

16 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

CONTROLLED BURN How the Lee papers are changing capitol coverage in Montana

BY CORIN CATES-CARNEY

hen Lee Enterprises the Montana Constitutional Convention in Johnson said. pulled two of its most 1972. It’s Lee Enterprises’ prerogative to senior political report- In August 2015, Montana Governor change directions, Johnson said. They’re the ers from Helena in May Steve Bullock appointed Johnson to the state ones paying the bills. 2015, concern grew over Historical Society Board of Trustees. Billings Gazette editor Darrell Ehrlick the health of Montana’s political watchdog. Dennison clocked over 30 years as a re- broke the news to Johnson and Dennison WThe loss of Chuck Johnson and Mike porter with more than two decades in the about the new direction Lee Enterprises was Dennison from the state’s largest newspaper state capital and the last 10 years with Lee going in their state and political coverage. chain spurred political bloggers, tweeters, Enterprises. Ehrlick told Montana Journalism Re- editors and readers around the state to rant, In the later years of their work in Hele- view he couldn’t talk about what happened reminisce or speculate about the future of na, Johnson and Dennison contributed their in a private conversation with employees political coverage in Montana. knowledge of the state capital to discussions and said the reason for the changes stemmed Johnson said he and Dennison were from reader expectations and changes to the called into what they thought was a meet- Lee business model. ing about story ideas in their state bureau Nationwide, “I would say that we have two state re- coverage. Instead, they learned their work in porters and they are covering the state,” Eh- the state bureau was no longer a part of Lee newsroom rlick said. “Are they covering the state in the Enterprises’ plan. old bureau form, no, we’ve changed the way According to Johnson, he and Denni- numbers have we’re doing it.” son were told the revenues of Lee Enterpris- According to Ehrlick, the change in- es’ newspapers in Montana no longer sup- been declining. volves two reporters traveling around the ported the kind of state bureau they’d had. state gathering stories that aim at shifting “The editors wanted to make changes with Sally Mauk of Montana Public Radio, Lee Enterprises’ content on state and gov- and they offered Mike and me jobs as roam- bringing listeners the political analysis pro- ernment to the perspective of people being ing reporters,” Johnson said. “We were of- gram, “Capitol Talk.” governed, rather than the politicians in the fered those jobs at a substantial cut in pay, After they accepted the buyouts, John- government. or a buyout.” son retired and Dennison went looking for While this change may be driven by a The pay cut ranged from 40 to 45 per- other work. new strategy of telling stories, it comes at cent, Johnson said. Both reporters took the “The older reporters are probably mak- a time when Lee Enterprises is struggling buyout. ing more money, they have more vacation to stay afloat in journalism’s digital age and Johnson’s 40 years of state political cov- time, it costs a lot more to have a longtime state bureaus around the nation are shed- erage began in the 1970s, and he covered reporter working than a young reporter,” ding reporters. Ü

MJR 2016 17 FEATURE

The Montana State Capitol building in Helena. PHOTO BY JAKE GREEN

In December of 2011, Lee Enterprises time professional editorial employees,” the now,” Michels said. filed for protection against bankruptcy. The Pew report said. It’s the first time that fig- She was frustrated with reports that company has since reorganized and is paying ure has dropped below 40,000 since 1978. announced the departure of Chuck John- down its debt, aided by a strategy of strin- The number of statehouse reporters son and Mike Dennison as a closure of the gent cost cutting. has declined by 35 percent from 2003 to bureau. Between 2010 and 2014, the newspa- 2014, according to the Pew Research Cen- “That’s not what’s happening,” Mi- per chain reduced its total workforce by 26 ter. chels said. percent, according to company fiscal year “We’ve seen it from everywhere from Michels, along with 24-year-old reports. Lee Enterprises reported a total of California to smaller states like Montana,” Jayme Fraser, will continue covering the 4,700 employees in their 2014 annual re- the AP’s Carl said. “There just isn’t as many Montana Legislature when it’s in session. port. It didn’t specify how many of those journalists in statehouses as there used to According to Billings Gazette editor employees work in its newsrooms. be.” Darrell Ehrlick, there isn’t a designated Nationwide, newsroom numbers have While traditional reporter num- office space for Michels and Fraser to been declining, Associated Press Western bers dwindle, others aim to fill the gap. work in the state capital, but there will Regional Editor Traci Carl said. Non-traditional media outlets now ac- be room for them in the Helena Indepen- Carl oversees the AP’s news coverage in 13 count for about 17 percent of all the dent Record offices. states. reporters in statehouses, while students When the 2017 legislative session “It’s been unfortunately dwindling account for 14 percent. But Lee Enter- kicks off, Ehrlick says Lee Enterprises across the nation. It is something we are very prises’ state bureau isn’t gone, according will have housing arranged for them. aware of,” she said. to Holly Michels. Michels, 31, is one of Michels is looking forward to the Since 2000, more than 18,000 full- the two new reporters taking on the state traveling aspect of her job. In the new time professional news jobs at newspapers and political coverage for Lee’s Montana style of coverage, she said Lee Enterprises have been lost, according to a study by the newspapers’ new strategy. encourages her to find people outside the Pew Research Center in 2013. “There were two reporters covering capital who are impacted by the decisions “That leaves the industry at 38,000 full- Montana and there are two reporters made in Helena.

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“I think it is such a cool opportunity for tanans how government played a role in our readers,” Michels said. “Where they can’t their lives. go, I get to go there for you and bring you “They were telling the governed what that story.” was happening so they could participate,” Jayme Fraser thinks that because the Swibold said. “I am the governed. I want to legislature is only in session every other year, know what the governors are doing.” this move made sense. Swibold said the UM’s student coverage During the lull in the legislative cycle, in the capital may increase with the addition Fraser and Michels will have opportunities to of a photographer in the future, but that’s report on the ripple effects of the last legisla- not a sure thing. He said it will be a big test tive session. to see if Lee’s new strategy for covering legis- “This is the part where we hold the gov- lative sessions works. ernment accountable for the legislative deci- In August, Montana Television Net- sions and also for the things they’ve failed to work hired Mike Dennison as their full-time get done,” Fraser said. chief political reporter for their network. For example: the legislature’s inability He’s based in Helena. to pass an infrastructure bill. While Chuck “The only entity that has beefed up the Johnson and Mike Dennison did report on reporting is TV stations,” Dennison said. infrastructure legislation, and were sched- Along with the acquisition of Denni- uled to continue coverage in the fall of 2015, son, two years ago MTN hired print polit- Fraser is coming at it from a different angle. ical reporter Sanjay Talwani to cover Mon- During her first few weeks on the job, tana’s capital. Fraser focused on various Montana commu- “The appetite for political coverage in nities that don’t have the capacity to grow Montana, I think, has always been strong. due to infrastructure problems like old, de- And it still is,” Dennison said. crepit water plants. While the appetite for political and “That’s a practical effect of the legisla- state coverage remains, readers won’t have ture not being able to come up with their to wait for Lee Enterprises’ new flavor of re- share of the funding,” she said. porting. The Montana State Capitol building in Helena. PHOTO BY JAKE GREEN Fraser and Michels both report to Mon- Holly Michels and Jayme Fraser are al- tana Standard editor David McCumber, ready in their new positions. who said writing about legislative issues in Fraser graduated from the University this way is effective. of Montana School of Journalism in 2012, “I think that the idea here is that it when she was named a Hearst fellow. The really doesn’t make sense to lock reporters fellowship took her to the Houston Chron- in an office in Helena year-round when the icle, where she was a data-driven and multi- legislature is in session 100 days every few media journalist. years,” McCumber said. “It makes much Michels also graduated from the UM more sense, I think, to have these reporters journalism school and has worked for near- out around the state seeing how govern- ly every paper owned by Lee Enterprises ment is affecting Montanans and reporting in Montana. She was the city editor at the on it.” Billings Gazette, as well as the managing Dennis Swibold, who supervises Uni- editor of the Helena Independent Record. versity of Montana student coverage of the As their bylines are added to Lee state legislative session for a network of Enterprises newspapers, which circulate Montana papers, said while Johnson and 90,000 papers around the state, it will be Dennison didn’t drive all over the state for up to readers to decide if Montana’s watch- their work often, they were telling Mon- dog has lost any of its bite.t

Corin Cates-Carney works for Montana Public Radio as the Flathead Valley Reporter. His work has also appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, National Native News and the Last Best Stories podcast. He is a 2014 graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism.

MJR 2016 19 FEATURE Q & A “We don’t always answer that why.” New Missoulian Editor Matthew Bunk promises more behind-the-scenes stories about state and local politics

Matthew Bunk became the editor of the Missoulian in August 2015. The 37-year-old North Dakota native has worked at a number of small and large newspapers and most recently was publisher of the biweekly Western News in Libby, Montana. Bunk talked with Montana Public Radio news director emeritus Sally Mauk about the changes Missoulian readers can expect to see under his leadership. PHOTO BY TOMMY MARTINO

SALLY MAUK: What do you think is the dif- MAUK: Because? ference between a small-town weekly newspaper and a daily paper that serves a large popu- BUNK: Well, you’re so close to your sources. You have to lation in terms of the paper’s role? sometimes do things that make people uncomfortable. In a small paper, you’re going out to get your groceries and MATT BUNK: Traditionally the community papers are you run into the people that you are writing about. You far more, a lot of times they’re more informative. And see these folks everyday so there’s a huge responsibility to you’re doing a lot of “here’s what’s going on this week” be fair, accurate and all that, but there’s a lot of pressure type of news. And at some of the daily papers I worked also to keep things positive and that’s not something jour- at, you’re focusing more on the watchdog journalism and nalists generally like to think about as positive or negative you’re doing a lot of investigations, and that’s really tough news. in a small community.

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MAUK: Do you see bringing that BUNK: We’ve got two really good journalists. BUNK: During the session you’re still going sort of approach of being informative Holly Michels is one of them that’s going to to be getting good daily updates on what’s go- and positive about the community to be based in Butte. Jayme Fraser is the other ing on at the legislature. The thing that we a paper that has been historically a person that started recently with us at the think is going to be an enhancement to it, is watchdog paper? Missoulian. She’s going to be a data-driven that these two reporters both have a very deep reporter, do investigations, but largely a lot of background in enterprise work, telling a larg- BUNK: I think what you’re going to see is the data work. er story, answering the “why.” We do a good Missoulian continuing to be a watchdog and job of who, what, when and where a lot of probably even more so under my direction. I MAUK: The coverage of state govern- times, but we don’t always answer that why. think that we do a great job in many, many ment though obviously is going to We’ve done a lot of reporting from the talking areas, but there are a lot of behind-the-scenes change for your paper and the other heads down at the Capitol, you know, law- stories I think that aren’t being told. Lee papers because they’re not going maker X says this, lawmaker Y says something to be based in Helena. How will they else. What these reporters are really going to MAUK: Give me an example of the cover state government from Butte focus on is finding the real people out in the stories you’re talking about. and Missoula? world that are affected by this stuff and letting those people drive the story. And so I think BUNK: I think we just need to follow the BUNK: That’s one of the things you’re going see the same type of information money a little bit better sometimes. There’s a we’re working on right now. I think they’re coming out but maybe told in a more engag- lot of moving parts right now with the Moun- going to be down there for sure during the ing manner than we have in the past. tain Water case with the city of Missoula and legislative sessions. a lot of unanswered questions there and it’s MAUK: In addition to the change at coming out little by little. It’s just one area MAUK: Which is four months every the Lee state bureau, you’re replacing where there’s just a lot to dig into and I think two years. a longtime editor at the Missoulian. that might be a good example of where we There is some public perception that want to look a little bit more deeply into some BUNK: Correct. And then they’ll be down Lee has made these moves, both in of the machinations of what’s going on with there quite a bit for any kind of interim com- Helena and here, to save money at the that purchase. mittee hearings that they’re having. A lot of expense of news content. How do you that is viewable online as far as legislative answer that perception? MAUK: Lee has undergone a lot hearings, so there’s that option. But I think of changes – Lee Enterprises your our focus is getting them to Helena as much BUNK: I don’t think that’s the case at all. I’m corporate owner – and some of the as possible. While they’re not based there full- not going to talk about people’s salaries, but changes they’ve made in Montana time, I think after a few years, a few sessions, that’s not, I don’t believe, part of this mix. I have made news as you well know. they’ll be pretty tapped in. think the readers are going to like what they’re The two veteran statehouse reporters, going to get out of this, actually, more than Chuck Johnson and Mike Dennison, MAUK: So, the coverage of state what we had from the state bureau and be- were essentially let go, and that got government in your opinion won’t yond. I know I can tell you for sure that as a a lot of blowback from the public. change all that much – or will change? journalist, as a reader and as an editor, I am And they’ve been replaced with two And if it does change, how do you see thrilled at the direction we’re going.t younger reporters. that change?

Sally Mauk retired as news director of Montana Public Radio in 2014 and still does political analysis for the station. For many years, she worked with Mike Dennison and Chuck Johnson on a weekly political radio program. Prior to her journalism career, she was a wilderness ranger. PHOTO BY EVAN FROST

MJR 2016 21 FEATURE

A high school paper reignites after Order nearly closing up shop PHOTOS AND STORY BY JAKE GREEN

When the Hawk Tawk is in session, a dozen or more students cram into their small newsroom on the second floor of Bozeman High School. The student newspaper is riding a wave of success and excitement, only three of the years after nearly closing its doors because too few students had registered for the class. Back then, in 2012, with the help of the local community, students convinced the school to keep publishing the Hawk Tawk.

In 2014, a new adviser came on board. Emily Donahoe, a reporter turned English teacher, led the staff to win best high school newspaper in Hawk Montana. Buoyed by their success, 18 student journalists set out to prove in 2015 they can produce a newspaper as good as, if not better, than last year. t

Emily Donahoe, the adviser of the Hawk Tawk, teaches Hailey McMahan how to use Adobe InDesign to create a layout for the students’ stories. She thinks it is important for every one of her students to have this skill. She said the Hawk Tawk was slow to start last year because only certain students knew certain process- es, and that motivated her to make every student a well-rounded journalist.

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(TOP) Donahoe holds a class meeting to explain to students how to perform copy edits on the newspaper. The class has both learning days and work days. On work days, the class will meet for the start of the period and then split up to work on individual stories. Donahoe also uses this time to teach students specific skills, like design or editing.

(BOTTOM) Co-Editor-in-Chief Justice Geddes answers a question posed by Rachel Holler during the writing and editing process for the October 2015 edition of the Hawk Tawk. Sometimes students choose a theme for their paper. Once they have chosen a theme, they begin to pitch and create story ideas, report and write. Geddes serves as an editor, guiding writers and refining their stories.

MJR 2016 23 FEATURE

(TOP) Geddes interviews Bozeman Deputy (BOTTOM LEFT) Geddes takes notes (BOTTOM RIGHT) Reporters Sage Ben- Mayor Carson Taylor. Previously, he had during his interview with Taylor, nett and Ella Cole perform a final check collaborated with Hawk Tawk reporter which coincided with his lunch period. on Shanoah Eck’s article about marijuana Sage Bennett on profiles of three mayoral Geddes was one of three returning use at BHS. Eck interviewed students who candidates running in the 2015 election. students from last year’s award-win- smoked marijuana and took a poll to get Taylor was not one of them. The Bozeman ning staff and is one of the Hawk an idea of how many students used the High School (BHS) reporters often pursue Tawk’s driving forces this year. drug. She found that of the 139 students, stories beyond school walls. 56 had tried pot. In January of 2015, the Hawk Tawk published a “Fitting In” edition. It was cited as one of their strongest issues for its graphics and content, which addressed topics like being gay, having a poor body image and being an introvert.

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(TOP LEFT) Geddes and reporter Grace Bry- (TOP RIGHT) Features Editor Emma Bow- (BOTTOM) Cody Bodman and Molly ant deliver the October edition of the Hawk en, one of three returning students, works Kelly read the Hawk Tawk in Wild Joe’s Tawk to classrooms throughout BHS. The on copy editing a page of the October Coffee Spot in Bozeman. The printing is Hawk Tawk prints as a part of the Bozeman paper. Before a page is considered finalized, celebrated by eating donuts and read- Daily Chronicle, which gives it a circulation of two students separately view the page and, ing their freshly printed paper in class almost 15,000 readers. It funds itself by selling using a checklist, confirm the paper does on the day of publication. But as soon as ads and using the money to pay the Chronicle not have any factual or grammatical errors. class is over, the students begin to pitch to print and distribute the paper as an insert. and create stories for the next edition.

Jake Green is a junior at the University of Montana. He has a passion for people and is intrigued by their stories. He enjoys digital photography but spends much of his time shooting film. Jake loves bicycles and food and will work for money or puppies.

MJR 2016 25 26 ISSUE 45 THE WEST

Wyoming GOOD COP, BAD PRESS BY CHRISTIAN GRANT

When a police officer in Casper, officer who fatally shot man was justi- Wyoming, shot and killed a man, local fied,” published the name. “The Casper news organizations had to decide if out- Star-Tribune stands by its story,” the ing the officer would put him in danger. paper wrote in an e-mail statement. The July 12, 2015, shooting came Hyman said he was shocked to in the midst of a summer news cycle see the police officer’s name published dominated by cop stories. The Casper both online and in print. Police Department received threats “If there wasn’t a target on his before the officer was named and was back, there really was now,” Hyman worried the public’s perception would said. stick, even though he was cleared of Andrew Seaman, chairman for any wrongdoing. the Society of Professional Journalists’ The department asked news organi- ethics committee, said in most cases it’s zations not to publish the officer’s name. standard to include an officer’s name, Mark Hyman, K2TV news direc- but the decision should be thoroughly tor, said his station obliged. But when discussed with police and editors. the officer was cleared on September “If there were threats against of- 2, K2TV news anchors reported that ficers, maybe that would be reason the police department’s request “fell on to hold back,” he said. “Talk with a deaf ears by the Casper Star-Tribune.” bunch of people until you feel secure That day, the Casper Star-Tri- in your decision and have a rational bune’s front-page story, “DA: Casper reason to print.” t

MJR 2016 27 THE WEST

North Dakota

BUCKING CENSORSHIP OF STUDENT SPEECH

BY HUNTER SCHMITZ

In April 2013, an anti-abortion post- Next door in Montana, student speech has no er was removed from the hallway of Griggs such protection. County Central High School in Cooper- “I’m sure a law like North Dakota’s stown, North Dakota after a parent com- would help other student journalists at dif- plained about it. The poster was displayed as ferent Montana schools,” said Aidan Reed, part of a class assignment to address current co-editor and head writer at Helena High issues. School’s “Helena Nugget.” He said he hasn’t The Alliance Defending Freedom, a experienced any kind of censorship in Helena non-profit advocate of religious liberty, sent specifically. a letter defending the student’s right to hang Reed said he is encouraged to write risky the poster. The school’s principal decided to pieces such as reflections on student suicides allow the poster after deliberating with offi- and a criticism of Christmas. But Helena cials. High may be an exception to the rule. As of April 2015, the school’s decision Joe Cohn, the legislative and policy to remove the poster would be illegal thanks director for the Foundation for Individual to the John Wall New Voices Act, which pro- Rights in Education (FIRE), said that schools hibits censorship of student speech unless it’s often try to review student publications be- unlawful or infringes on the rights of others. fore they are published. Because students In the past, North Dakota schools followed know an administrator has to approve their precedent established by the 1988 Hazelwood material, they are less likely to pursue contro- v. Kuhlmeier ruling, which says schools don’t versial stories, he said. have to promote certain types of speech. “In jurisdictions where prior restraint by The law, which was unanimously passed school administration is permitted, the risk of by the legislature in April 2015, expands stu- self-censorship is not only real, it’s routine,” dent free speech in public high schools and Cohn said. colleges by following the 1969 case Tinker North Dakota has little evidence of ag- v. Des Moines Independent Community gressive censorship, but the likelihood of School District. Under the Tinker ruling, self-censorship is sufficient motivation for schools cannot censor student speech unless it groups like FIRE and the Student Press Law poses a substantial disruption to the learning Center to pressure other states to expand stu- environment. dent speech. Both groups pushed the North The new law, which went into effect in Dakota Legislature to pass the law. August 2015, has already impacted student “We’re optimistic in the next few years journalism in North Dakota. for a breakthrough in both federal and state “The law is a very welcome addition,” legislatures,” Cohn said. said Alexander Bertsch, editor-in-chief of the He also said FIRE will continue to de- student newspaper at the University of North fend student speech in state legislatures in the Dakota. hope that all 50 states will soon be more like North Dakota is the eighth state to leg- North Dakota, a leader in free speech protec- islatively expand free speech laws in schools. tion for student journalists.t

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WASHINGTON- The Washington Administrative Code’s section on Student Rights may provide public high school students with addtional protection against administrative NORTH DAKOTA- The John Wall New censorship. WAC 382-40-125 was enacted August 1, 1977. Voices Act, signed into law in April 2015, ensures the free-speech rights of journalism students in North Dakota public schools and colleges.

OREGON- Oregon has two laws to protect student journalists: the Oregon Student Free Expression Law for public secondary schools and the Oregon Student Free Ex- pression law for public colleges and uni- versities. Ore. Rev. Stat. sec. 336.477 and Ore. Rev. Stat. sec. 351.649 were enacted July 1, 2007. NEBRASKA-Nebraska failed to pass anti-Ha- WYOMING- Wyoming, along with zelwood laws between South Dakota, Idaho and Montana, 1997 and 2007 but it did do not currently have a student free- COLORADO- The Colorado State not pass. expression or free-speech protection Free Expression Law provides guaranteed in the state’s education high school students in the state code. with protection, in addition to the First Amendment, from administrative censorship. Colo. Rev. Stat. Secs. 22-1-120 was enacted June 7, 1990.

INFOGRAPH BY ALYSSA DILLON

MJR 2016 29 THE WEST Pacific Northwest East Coast Story ShakesShakes Local Press BY COURTNEY GERARD

Catastrophic death tolls, billions of formation officer with the Oregon Depart- they are woefully unprepared,” Houst- dollars in damage and impact to nearly ment of Geology and Mineral Industries. on said. 140,000 square miles was the picture paint- The group researches the Cascadia Fault, While the fate of the Pacific Northwest ed by an article in The New Yorker. Pub- which would cause “quakenami.” But the is unknown, the stories recognized a valid lished in July 2015, “The Really Big One” national coverage opened the conversation threat. But it remains to be seen whether outlined threats of a super earthquake and up to people across the country. the media hype came early enough to spur subsequent tsunami that would destroy Or- Brian Houston, a professor at the Uni- defensive action.t egon and Washington. In the weeks that versity of Missouri studying the way media followed, the story went viral and received frames disasters, said all the chatter makes Courtney Gerard is an Environmental Journal- every kind of media attention, from local The New Yorker’s story constructive. ism graduate student at the University of Montana. papers to Fox News. “People in the U.S. love writing and When she isn’t writing, you will find her running, Most people in the Northwest knew making movies about disasters, but when playing in rivers or exploring one of Montana’s many the risks, says Ali Ryan, an earth science in- it comes down to dealing with the risk, mountain ranges.

Portland, Oregon, skyline as viewed from Mount Hood. PHOTO BY MEGHAN NOLT

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“Polypro Due” Nick Popkey/YouTube

Idaho THE RELUCTANT YOUTUBE SENSATION BY JESSICA MURRI

Former political reporter for the Idaho map god / don’t need a lap dog,” and “I’m rock- Statesman Dan Popkey covered 26 legislative ing polypro / I don’t do cotton so I don’t get sessions in his tenure before accepting a job soggy, bro.” as press secretary for U.S. Rep. Raúl Labra- The video was produced by Popkey’s two dor in 2014. He’s always presented himself as kids and features their recent family vacation a straight-laced, black-and-white professional. to Italy. That is, until June 30, 2015, when a The Idaho Statesman ignored the video al- two-minute, 31-second video of him rapping together, while The Spokesman-Review posted got over 2,000 views. it with the caption, “Is this another sign that “At first, I thought it wasn’t real, then the end is near?” there was a moment where I thought he was Popkey doesn’t seem amused with the at- intoxicated,” said Boise Weekly news editor tention the video has received. George Prentice. “Nothing like that came be- “Look, it’s something I did with my kids,” fore and nothing like that has come since.” he told MJR. “It was just an inside joke with The video features Popkey in a hood- my kids. My son has recently gotten into film ie (also a bathrobe, a bucket hat and swim and we just did it for fun. I really didn’t think trunks), awkwardly rapping lyrics like “I’m a anyone was going to care about it.” t

Jessica Murri is a graduate from the University of Montana School of Journalism. She lives in Boise, Idaho, where she writes for the Boise Weekly, hikes, skis, kayaks, backpacks, drives a Subaru and loves her dog.

MJR 2016 31 THE WEST

CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION. CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION. PHOTO BY PERSON

Eric Oravsky explores caves under Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau, Alaska in June 2015. Starting in January, Oravsky will begin filming for virtual reality tours of the glacier to be featured on his app, Adventure Flow. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC ORAVSKY

Alaska New app prospects for tourists

BY RUTH EDDY

Cruise ships carry nearly one million tourists a year to Alaska. For Juneau-based entrepreneur Eric Oravsky, those visitors are potential customers. The former University of Montana journalism student wants to tell them stories through their phones, and charge them for it. The app Adventure Flow was born out of an outdoor guide company Oravsky started with his high school friend Patrick Courtnage. Using Courtnage’s experience with programming and Oravsky’s photography and storytelling skills, they are taking their physical tours into the digital world. The app is joining fewer than 10 guide applications for smart phones in Juneau. Marketed to summer tourists, Adventure Flow hopes to both enhance the user’s experience in Alaska and help them remember it.

Last year’s featured entrepreneur Austin Green has been covering basketball games across Spain on weekends while working as an assistant English teacher during the week to pay rent. He is starting to be recognized as an authority on Spanish prospects for U.S. basketball leagues. Green will be collaborating with recently-relocated UM alum and photojournalist Gracie Ryan, who will bring her camera to the court. t

Ruth Eddy lives in Ketchikan, Alaska. She currently works in radio and the rain. www.therutheddy.com

32 ISSUE 45 THE WEST Girls run the world of online media...

BY TANA WILSON

With media organizations rapidly expanding their on- Staff of line presence, social media- and Staff of 100+ web-focused positions are becom- Staff of 20-100 ing more popular. Until recently, 2-20 journalists hoping to cash in on these new roles had little way of knowing what job titles to pursue and how much to demand for salaries. To change this, City University of New York graduate $ 42 k $ 45 k $ 57 k student Julia Haslanger created Journo Salary Sharer, an anony- mous reporting tool, to help new media journalists better negotiate contracts and ask smarter questions about emerging job opportunities. ...And everyone is a “producer”

Multimedia Producer Executive Producer Editor ProducerSenior Web Producer Digital Director Senior Producer Digital Producer Interactive Producer Online Producer Associate Producer Associate Editor Online Editor Digital Editor Content Producer Web Producer Digital News Producer Digital Content Producer Social Media Producer Digital News Producer Editor Web

The 172 journalism salary sharers represented in this graphic identified 20 job titles for online news media positions. Of those, “producer” and “web producer” were the most popular. Female respondents outnumbered males three to two and larger newsrooms averaged higher salaries.

MJR 2016 33 COVER STORY LOST IN THE SMOKE WHY WILDFIRE COVERAGE SHOULDN’T START OR END WITH THE FLAMES

WORDS BY ANDREW GRAHAM PHOTOS BY JAKE GREEN

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MJR 2016 35 COVER STORY

irefighters often talk about the the fire interacts with those living on the of checking in with the PIO, I learned incomparable beauty of a forest landscape. a media tour would be leaving from the burning at night. Fire fascinates. It’s the West’s own little war at home, Lincoln Ranger Station, about an hour east Its flicker in a campsite has always and it’s escalating every summer. Some call of Missoula. been mesmerizing. Forest fires are the resulting media coverage “fire porn.” In the parking lot, the media put on something else entirely, mixing fear, awe and the yellow non-flammable Nomex shirts Funtamed natural beauty. that are standard issue for firefighters and ournalists who cover wildfire in In the media, wildfire is either feared Montana will tell you that if you were provided for media on site. With or fought, and thus mischaracterized and want to get close to the flames you me were two broadcast reporters and a misunderstood. The most specialized need to be there as soon after a fire’s photographer from Helena news outlets. scientists, much less reporters, still don’t J “Hopefully we’ll get some retardant start as possible. Once the Forest Service entirely understand how it fits into the bureaucracy is in place, it’s usually too late. drops for you guys,” said Kathy Bushnell, western landscape. For the “Burn” edition “Don’t get on the phone or anything,” Sam the fire’s PIO and that day’s tour guide. of Montana Journalism Review, I set out Wilson, a reporter for the Flathead Valley’s “Lovely,” replied one of the reporters. to understand the role media plays Air drops make great footage. in the West’s evolving relationship For the first few days, there had with wildfire. been none. At the fire’s start Lincoln In the news, wildfire often District Ranger Michael Stansberry comes across as incomprehensible addressed this at a public meeting: and unfair. And in many ways, it “I already had a question called in is—the Valley Fire in California last Harmless fires asking ‘why isn’t there an air show?’” September burned 1,958 homes The fire was burning in a forest full and businesses. Four people died. of dead lodgepole pines, and the Video shot by an escaping resident are rarely written intense heat of this heavy burning shows a harrowing drive through fuel meant water from helicopters a community transported to the and fire retardant from air tankers bowels of hell. Ash flies across the would have little effect. With limited windshield and flames run across about, resources and fires burning around the ground. A house in the darkness the region, no aircraft had gone to is defined by flames pouring from its Lincoln. windows. But now houses were threatened These are desperate, stirring and why would and an observation plane was circling images of a natural phenomenon the fire. Two helicopters were pulling with the power to swallow homes water out of nearby streams and an and towns whole. On the flip side, they be? air tanker was flying to and from there is the equally dramatic story Helena. of our fight against the flames. Each The TV reporters framed their summer, air tankers etch red lines shots so that interviews would of fire retardant across our screens capture the smoking ridgeline in and front pages. Smoke columns, flaming Daily Inter Lake told me. “Just get in the car the background. The smoke column was trees, firefighters marching in formation, and go.” impressive, the fire burning more than 1,300 blackened forests and gutted homes are I spent the summer tracking fire’s acres. With a telephoto lens, you could catch familiar images to those in the West. eastward march on InciWeb, a government the occasional orange flash of flame. “If you want to get media attention, website that carries information on all A hot wind blew and the non- or popular attention or political attention, active wildfires and is updated by the Public flammable yellow shirts grew itchy as the sun you basically have to burn up a bunch of Information Officers (PIOs) on scene. In beat down. We were more than a mile away houses, kill people or involve celebrities. the second week of August, lightning storms from the fire. And a celebrity landscape will do, it could over dry forests ignited a series of fires and A segment ran on NBC Montana’s be Yellowstone, Yosemite. That will do it,” the Montana 2015 fire season was well evening broadcast for two minutes. “When Stephen Pyne, a fire historian and professor underway. I was there it was evident that firefighting at Arizona State University, told me. On Friday, August 14, 2015, the Sucker efforts on the ground and in the sky are far While this is true of national media, Creek Fire outside Lincoln, Montana, grew from over,” reporter Mikenzie Frost began. similar criteria holds sway over local outlets. large enough to warrant evacuation orders Against background images of smokey The news is rarely the fire itself; it is the way for more than 50 homes. After a few days plumes, Frost and officials spoke about airÜ

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ABOVE: Karl Puckett, a reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, takes a video of Wayne Phillips, a retired Forest Service ecologist. Puckett brought Phillips to the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park to learn how vegetation regrows after a fire. While out reporting Puckett is constantly capturing photos and videos .

RIGHT: Public Information Officers John Zwierze- howski (left) and Sara Rouse (center) show reporter Colin Murphy a map of a fire located around 30 miles west of Missoula. Murphy took a media tour of the fire zone led by the PIOs, who act as an intermediary between the media and the fire crews, providing information and leading media tours. Because of the potential danger of fire, per- sonnel are required to wear fire-retardant clothing.

MJR 2016 37 COVER STORY

tactics, resources and evacuations. Neither The other template uses a narrative make it hard to tell a deeper story with fire. mentioned that most of the threatened borrowed from war coverage, with wildland Dramatic narratives of firefighters battling a structures were vacation cabins. fires as the battleground. “They wear natural disaster are easy, especially with PIOs On one hand, the broadcast was uniforms, they’ve got their armored divisions, on hand to tell them and air tankers painting simple breaking news: how many acres were they’ve got their air support,” Pyne says. “It’s photo opportunities across the sky. burning, what was threatened and what was presented as a military fight.” Neither narrative serves the story well. being done to stop it. On the other hand, it Part of that narrative reflects how Both avoid the nuanced problems of a fell far short of telling the whole story. firefighters themselves talk about fire. unique relationship between mankind and Wildfire suppression is managed as a military nature, instead portraying large fires as the ire coverage, says Stephen Pyne, campaign, with the fire as the enemy. There cost of doing business. usually takes one of two templates. are paratroopers (smokejumpers), marines The same day I toured the Sucker A longtime voice in the fire science (hotshot crews) and air strikes (retardant and Creek Fire with the broadcast journalists, community, Pyne is a natural water drops). They set up defensive lines to I met Karl Puckett, natural resource Fhistorian, former firefighter and author of push the fire in the direction they want it to reporter for the Great Falls Tribune. He and 15 books on wildland fire—none of which, go. They try to flank the fire, but sometimes photographer Rion Sanders were waiting at he notes, has received the media attention or the fire outflanks them, or overruns their the ranger station for Bushnell to ferry us all the sales of his other books, which range in lines. back to her vantage point. I left my yellow topic from the Grand Canyon to the Voyager In 2015, the military narrative became Nomex at the station, while Puckett and space missions. even more poignant when soldiers and Sanders kept theirs in their backpacks. One media template frames fire as a airmen were called up to fight fires in Writing for a daily paper, Puckett natural disaster, with coverage resembling Washington state. “We protect our country faces tight deadlines just like TV reporters. that of floods or tornadoes. Forest fires are from all enemies foreign and domestic, so But if you follow his byline, you can see treated as fast moving threats that towns have this is, I’ll call it a domestic enemy,” one that long experience (he’s covered wildfire to brace themselves against, much as cities soldier told a local NBC affiliate. since 2000) has led him to explore deeper along the East Coast do with hurricanes. Tight deadlines and limited resources questions about fire. Ü

Mark Finney, a research forester at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, explains how fire is a natural and necessary part of the ecosystem. Finney believes the public is ill informed about the natural role of fire in an ecosystem. He says controlled burns are a considerably better alternative to fighting fires, opposed to the current suppression methods.

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EXTRA

WHAT WE GET WRONG ABOUT WEATHER AND FIRE CROWDSOURCING BY MARK HEYKA

There’s a common misconception that THE WAR ON FIRE the severity of a fire season depends on the snowpack of the previous winter and spring. This is only partly true. While snowpack does greatly affect the summer fire season, just as important is what kind of weather oc- When the Reynold’s Creek Fire burned curs after the snowpack has already melted. through tourist-heavy Glacier National Park’s The weather in June, July and August Going-to-the-Sun Road last summer, a is vital to what fire season will look like in Western Montana. A great snowpack can Missouri teen’s footage shot from the still mean a very active fire season if the backseat of his family’s car demonstrated a weather turns too hot and dry after it has already melted. Heavy spring rains don’t breakthrough in fire science. But necessarily make for a safer fire season, as the crowdsourced data like this is nothing new plants that feed off the nurturing water can easily turn into greater fuel for fire if dried to fire scientists. out by hot summer weather. The worst-case scenario is a low snowpack followed by a hot and dry summer, while the best-case scenario is a great snowpack that slowly melts throughout the early BY MARK FINNEY summer followed by timely rains. El Niño is back for the winter of 2015- 2016, meaning we will have milder and drier-than-normal conditions across the North- ern Rockies. El Niño occurs when the Pacific Fire scientists can visit few of the this data, however, requires scientific waters off the west coast of South America more than 80,000 wildfires burning context in ecology, meteorology and become abnormally warm. The water is typ- millions of acres every year. Time and fire sciences to weed out ambiguous ically cold in this season, and the difference distance mean active fires are diffi- implications. sets off dominoes around the world. While cult to study, so footage shot by me- A recent breakthrough in un- the air above cold water is similarly cool dia and the public are an important derstanding how wildfires spread and calm, the abnormal warm water of an source of evidence of wildfire behav- began in the lab and was corroborat- El Niño warms the air above it as well. This ior. Footage collected directly by fire ed by videos and photographs cap- warm water holds more moisture, which scientists takes years to advance our tured in the last few decades, includ- shifts weather patterns. knowledge of fire behavior, and only ing footage shot by the teenager in El Niño winters mean cooler and wet- in combination with existing footage Glacier National Park this summer. ter weather for the southern half of the U.S., and data from weather stations, veg- The potential for citizens to contrib- which is good news for drought-plagued etation maps, satellite imagery and ute to the advancement of wildfire California. But it’s bad news for the Pacif- documented fire progression. research will improve greatly as the ic Northwest and Northern Rockies, which Both members of the public means to disseminate crowd-sourced can anticipate the low rainfall and small and television journalists are often data becomes more organized.t snowpack that threaten a drier and more se- serendipitously near wildfires, and Mark Finney is a researcher at the vere fire season.t the images they capture are vital for Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, a fire reconstructions and investiga- part of the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mark Heyka has been chief meteorologist at tions. With smartphones now ubiq- Mountain Research Station. He studies NBC Montana for 16 of the 32 years he has uitous, there’s more reliable access forest fuels and how fires spread, and worked in broadcasting. He grew up on a than ever to high-resolution photos his research has helped develop systems Kansas farm and became interested in weather complete with time stamps and GPS to predict fire behavior and optimize after he saw his first tornado when he was seven tags. Understanding and interpreting fire prevention through fuel reduction. years old.

MJR 2016 39 COVER STORY

EXTRA DRONE PILOT IN THE HOTSEAT AS POLITICIANS BURNT BUDGETS SQUELCH BY ANDREW GRAHAM HOBBY FLIGHTS

To fight fires, the Forest Service 18 percent of its funding. Programs to receives a certain amount of money inventory and monitor wildlife, critical BY AILENE CAMACHO from Congress each year. Once it’s to making informed environmental exceeded that budget, the agency pulls decisions—35 percent. Consumer drones have become a money from other programs. The Deferred Maintenance nuisance to many authorities, including In 1995, fighting fire took up 16 and Infrastructure Improvement wildland firefighters. In July of 2014, a percent of the Forest Service’s annual program is dedicated to the highest hobbyist piloted his drone over a fire in budget. This year, the agency crossed priority projects in the Agency’s California, endangering aircraft and the the 50 percent threshold for the first backlog of work. These include firefighters on the ground who depend on time. “serious public health and safety their retardant drops. When fire seasons get costly, the concerns,” the report says. In 2001, it Jason Bross, also known by his YouTube vast list of other operations performed supported around 400 major projects. handle, jayzaerial, was outed by The New by the Forest Service suffers. An In 2014 there was money for three. York Times in an article about the danger August 2015 agency report, titled “The The report states that if left drones pose to firefighting aircraft. Drones Rising Cost of Wildfire Operations,” unchecked, by 2025 over 67 hitting wings or engines could bring down outlined the costs to programs outside percent of the budget will be directed aircraft, similar to a bird strike. fire suppression. Wildlife & Fisheries toward fire. The U.S. Forest Service is “It helped me realize the fire thing is a Habitat Management, which aids on a path to becoming little more than big deal, that it is hitting nationwide,” Bross recovery of endangered species, lost a very large fire department.t said about the article. Media coverage of acts like this has triggered legislative action. California’s Senate Bill 168 proposes that emergency responders such as firefighters should be allowed to shoot drones down or disable them with water hoses without having to compensate their owners. Bross found no fault with this measure. “I think it’s totally appropriate since people keep continuing to fly in fires,” he said. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) introduced the Safe Drone Act in October 2015, which would make flying drones around wildfires a misdemeanor. “Our firefighters and airplane pilots should be focused on keeping the public safe—not worrying about unauthorized drones that recklessly interfere with their jobs,” Boxer said. Bross’s advice to fellow hobbyists: don’t fly your drones around fires.t

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PIO Asano Otsu (right) shows Breanna Thomasson (left) how to create a press release for Inciweb, a government site displaying the status of all active wildfires.

eporters for Montana newspapers She couldn’t take them farther, but Puckett Because fires that are quickly put out talk about how once a fire season asked the Sheriff, Leo Dutton, for a ride and don’t become news, the public receives gets rolling, there’s often little he took us up to the fire’s front. That’s the distorted images showing only the most time for anything else. Their job difference between an elected sheriff and a destructive, out-of-control fires. Harmless Rbecomes limited to the blow by blow of each PIO, Puckett told me afterwards. fires are rarely written about, and why would individual fire: acreage burned, resources on By late afternoon, the fire was burning they be? Why does it matter if they aren’t? hand, etc. downhill with just a few hundred yards of Fire coverage may seem superficial to some, “If you can get some context into the trees between it and Copper Creek Road. If but from a local news standpoint it does its story for daily coverage that’s the ideal,” the fire crossed it, more evacuations would job by covering evacuations and fire size. Puckett said. In Lincoln, he tried to do that be ordered. We stood on the road with Puckett later told me his story captured by getting close to the flames. Dutton, his deputy and three trucks worth a snapshot of what a fire really looks like. Tall, broad shouldered and gruff, of firefighters, watching trees torch on the “It’s not like a huge flame wall. It’s important Puckett cuts an imposing figure for a ridge above. to show that.” reporter. Wildfire burns quickly uphill but But a broader perspective requires one As the car turned onto a closed road, slowly on the way down, and though there to step back from the flames. a sheriff’s deputy at the roadblock jokingly were grumblings from the fire safety officer, asked if they should put a leash on the no one on the road was too concerned. For he problem is that the view media. the firefighters, the real excitement was a the public gets of fire is almost There were chuckles from the car, but trophy bull elk standing between us and the exclusively negative. “People Puckett just growled, “no.” fire. think that the normal state of our We stopped at the same vantage point A scraggly line of flame crackled Tecosystems is an absence of fire,” said Mark as before. Puckett moved continuously, downhill. The smoke was thick and dark. Finney, a researcher at the Forest Service’s peeling in to catch conversations and then Flames flashed from it like lightning in a Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula. walking away, crossing the road and then storm front. The sight was intriguing, even It’s well known that many fire experts— crossing back to enter the field and try a awe inspiring—it had the campfire effect. I’d particularly ecologists—think the Forest different angle for capturing video on his never been that close to a wildfire, but I’d Service’s propensity to put out as many phone. like to be there again. It wasn’t scary. This fires as possible is a mistake. Some of those “Are we going to see something better wasn’t California’s deadly Valley Fire, and experts believe the press helps drive this poor than this?” he eventually asked Bushnell. most aren’t. policy. Ü

MJR 2016 41 COVER STORY

Wayne Philips (left), a retired ecologist, shows Karl Puckett (right), a reporter from the Great Falls Tribune, how vegetation has regrown since the Trapper Fire of 2003 in Glacier National Park. Puckett brought Phillips to Glacier to learn how vegetation grows after a fire and how fire aids an ecosystem for an article Puckett was writing.

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MJR 2016 43 COVER STORY

In his office, I asked Finney for specific management.” invading army. examples. “Let’s just go to the Internet,” he The paper stated—like Finney, Pyne To fight bigger fires, the percentage of said, and brought up an article from the and many of the experts who study fire— the Forest Service budget dedicated to fire Los Angeles Times: “Valley fire spread with that when fuels in forests are controlled, fire suppression has increased from 16 percent in ‘mind-boggling’ speed, experts say.” He took burns at low intensity and can restore health 1995 to over 50 percent this year. But all this umbrage with the choice of experts, noting to the forest. These low-intensity fires are akin money funneled toward suppressing fires that the chief expert source was a climate to those that burned before the settlement isn’t slowing them down: In terms of acreage scientist, not a fire scientist. “They don’t talk of the West and the Forest Service’s ensuing burned, the six worst fire seasons the Forest to any experts who would know whether it’s suppression policy. It’s what ecologists have Service has on record all occurred after 2000. mind-boggling or not, and it ain’t mind- long considered beneficial fire. As fire seasons increase in impact, the boggling.” The Forest Service’s official policy need for in-depth coverage is growing. So It’s been a destructive year for wildfire, recognizes this. But the paper suggests the too is the demand for new angles to a story but that’s not surprising to those in fire agency rarely allows beneficial fires to burn. with an all-too-familiar plot. science. If the fires of 2015 have been In the short term, it is easier and safer to unexpected, it’s because we have false suppress all fires. Firefighters can put out 98 n 2015, major newspapers expectations, Finney says. If anyone in percent of fires at their start. The two percent ranging from the Los Angeles California is surprised by the Valley Fire, that get out of control, however, become the Times to The New York Times it’s because they don’t understand ran pieces about the hot dry where they live. Isummer in the West, the fires it There is a choice to be made sparked and its connection to climate with fire, which Finney says is not change. made clear to the public. Two other events over the season “We’ve proven that we cannot The public receives brought attention to the wildfire- keep fire out. It is inevitable, it will climate change connection. One occur. Everywhere there’s fuel, you was the Forest Service budget report. will have fire. Your choice is, when The other was repeatedly broadcast do you want it and what do you distorted images comments from California Gov. Jerry want it to do? That’s all you have, Brown. “This is the future from now those are your choices. Your choices on,” he said of wildfire in a September are not whether to have fire or not.” 14 press conference. “It’s going to get With an ever-increasing budget showing only worse just by the nature of how the to suppress fire, there is a discord in climate is changing.” logic that isn’t being questioned. While the science connecting Spending more and more money the most destructive, climate change and increased fire isn’t leading to better results. Finney threats is sound, the attention to calls it dropping wet dollar bills on this angle has those seeking a more fires. sustainable fire future worried. For In keeping with the militaristic out-of-control fires. advocates, fire is a good way to show narrative of the firefight, Finney climate change effects in a dramatic compared the media’s lack of and vivid way. As a historian, Stephen questioning fire suppression to Pyne spends more time looking back the free ride many say press gave at wildfire. Looking forward, he the U.S. government to justify the War on big ones. A balanced system including more worries the story of fire will be folded into Terror. frequent burning would limit the big costly that of climate change, making plausible We left his office and moved down the ones by robbing them of fuel. solutions for the first seem contingent on hall to a silo-like room called the combustion For the Forest Service and other solving the second. laboratory. Finney stopped by a uniform agencies, the risks of letting fires burn and Pyne, who is frequently interviewed forest of tiny cardboard “trees.” In a few the low tolerance for error means suppression by media, found a strong bias this summer days, they’d angle the cardboard to simulate reigns supreme. And there’s always money to toward supporting the message of worse a forest slope and light the downhill side on fight fire. fire as a result of climate change without fire. Then they’d watch it roar up the hill, “With these deterrents, ‘battling’ fire considering other factors. “If we allow it to record everything on high speed cameras and and ‘only you can prevent wildfire’ campaigns be hijacked by that then we’re just going to study the flames’ spread. The goal is to hone have more traction than recognizing that be playing whack-a-mole with fires for the in on how fire moves through real forests. many severe fires result from accrued next century,” he said. Finney says fire is one of the most management decisions,” the paper said. counterintuitive things imaginable. “Almost One of its co-authors, Malcolm North, here are some, however, who take everything you think you know about it is is a Forest Service ecologist. According to a more optimistic view, hoping probably wrong. Not just a little wrong, not Science, the agency asked the journal to that fire coverage will improve as just a tiny degree wrong. Exactly wrong.” remove North’s name from the piece, saying the demand for it rises. the author’s opinions differed from its own. TMichael Kodas has covered fire for a few days after I visited Finney’s While change within agencies is hard, decade as both a writer and photojournalist. office, he emailed me a recent the authors believe public pressure could “You used to be able to get a ride in a editorial paper in the journal tip the scale. That’s a hard sell when every truck to get a pretty good angle,” he AScience, called “Reform forest fire summer the press characterizes fire as an recalls. Today, he is associate director at the 44 ISSUE 45 COVER STORY

Dead trees stand amongst new vegetation that has formed since the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park.

University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Mountain Fire. This one’s headline was Oregon grape, thimbleberry and fireweed Environmental Journalism. “The Great Escape.” It described a guest were already coming back. The blackened Kodas has found that crises drive better ranch evacuation. Among the evacuees was branches of a mountain maple rose nine feet journalism as they affect more and more Jack Hanna, Montana’s celebrity animal up, its leaves burned off by the fire. New people. “We have far more communities in show host, who was “forced to hightail it leaves rose around its base. Wayne Phillips the West that are part of the problem but out of the woods Saturday after the Sheep dug up chunks of plants with connected also threatened by it, so that’s a natural Mountain Fire roared back to life.” root systems to show their ability to survive readership for these stories.” Sometimes, breaking news is just underground even as flames scorched the Two types of journalists are rising breaking news. surface. to the task of telling a more nuanced fire “What’s the big picture, Wayne, for all story, Kodas says. One is a growing breed he week before the Sheep this?” Puckett asked, interrupting. “What’s of journalists with backgrounds in science Mountain Fire made the front the public need to know?” and environmental policy, who bring page, photographer Jake Green Phillips, in the roundabout and increased insight to fire. The other variety is and I drove to Glacier National excitable way of the retiree, was trying to more homegrown. Newspapers in the West TPark. On the phone, Puckett had told me paint a clearer picture of fire’s effects. It’s why cover fire every summer, and reporters who he would be there with retired Forest Service he was out there, and why he said he reached stick around long enough are left with the ecologist Wayne Phillips. Puckett wanted to out to Puckett in the first place. He’d been institutional knowledge to cover the long- do a story on forest regrowth, what ecologists reading what he called Puckett’s “in-depth term issues. call “post-fire succession” in burn zones of articles” over the course of the fire season, “They might not be as polished a writer varying age. and brought some old photos of post-fire or as flashy a journalist as big market people, Under cloudless and bright fall skies we forests to the newsroom. but are by and large better at this kind of started in a forest that had burned in 2006. Puckett had looked at the photos and thing,” Kodas says. New lodgepole pine trees had grown to chest invited the ecologist on a trip to Glacier. For Karl Puckett, the season’s end height, while above them the trunks of the What Phillips thinks the public needs showed the dual nature of fire coverage. On trees killed in the fire rose bare and pointed to know is this: “You can read in the September 29, the front page of the Great like toothpicks. newspaper, 10,000 acres burned. But this Falls Tribune ran an article of his about a From there we moved to the now burned,” he said, gesturing at the barely fire burning in the Bob Marshall Wilderness extinguished Reynolds Creek Fire of 2015. touched green area we stand in, “and that Area called the Sheep Mountain Fire. The That fire, reported July 21, closed the iconic burned,” waving toward the charred forest headline read “Doing what it should do,” Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park’s ten yards uphill. and the article portrayed a fire burning interior, made national news and cost $10 Like the Sucker Creek Fire or even the through fuels built up over a century. The million to suppress. Valley Fire, there was more to this than the next time fires start in the area they won’t be Uphill from us the ground was black destructive force in the news. The black able to charge out of the backcountry and underfoot and the trees charred and dead. and green mosaic of a burnt forest is just as toward communities, Puckett’s sources said. But in the small pocket where we stood, the strangely beautiful as a forest fire at night, The next day, the front page carried forest was mostly unburnt. and fire’s story neither starts with the flames another Puckett article about the Sheep In the burned area, bear grass and nor ends when they go out.t MJR 2016 45 FEATURES

LIGHTING UP

BY PAUL QUENEAU

n 2013, two years before Oregon legal- pensaries and an ever-growing list of new psy- culture here now, and it has become part of ized the recreational use of marijuana, chotropic varieties with names like “White the paper the same way booze has always been Portland’s Pulitzer Prize-winning al- McWidow” and “Sour Chunk.” a part of journalism.” ternative weekly newspaper, The Wil- It makes sense this would be a high- The Week’s staff even launched an inter- lamette Week, hired its first cannabis stakes beat in counterculture’s capital city, departmental contest the day recreational pot columnist. where hippies and hipsters converge to sup- became legal, pitting pot plants in six divi- I“We said, you know what, let’s get ahead port the world’s largest collection of craft sions of the paper in a no-holds-barred ganja of this thing,” said Martin Cizmar, the Week’s breweries, countless coffee shops, organic “grow off.” culture editor. farms, wine bars, grocery co-ops and high- The competition did raise at least a few By the time sales began October 1, 2015, brow restaurants. eyebrows. the Week had well-established cannabis sec- “We saw from the beginning this was “People were thinking this was illicit. tions both in print and online, produced an something our readers wanted,” Cizmar said. Technically we have more plants than is al- annual magazine called Potlander and was “So we developed a team of writers, not just lowed. The law says four plants per house- busy churning out reviews of the city’s dis- one dude who is our pot guru. It’s part of our hold, and we have six,” Cizmar said. “We told

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FROM THE PACIFIC COAST TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT, THE CANNABIS BEAT GROWS WITH A BUDDING INDUSTRY AND PUBLIC APPETITE FOR COVERAGE

readers, ‘don’t make it weird, guys,’ and told Cizmar says he hasn’t heard of a single the Oregonian’s website “seeking a freelance them to chill out, that it’s open to interpre- journalist running into trouble with pot cov- critic to review marijuana strains, infused tation.” erage or reviews. products and highlight consumer trends In fact, when it comes to the legality of But what about journalism outfits with unique to Oregon’s robust cannabis culture growing, reviewing and otherwise support- a more conservative readership? Portland’s and marketplace.” ing what is still a federally outlawed product, other Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, The Crombie declined to comment for this Cizmar is unflinching. Oregonian, is the West Coast’s oldest paper article, but said the paper had a flood of me- “This is the people’s republic of Port- and has the largest circulation in the Pacific dia attention after the posting. The paper land,” he said jokingly. “Technically I guess Northwest, including readers of the distinct- followed a path blazed by The Denver Post, the federal government has some sort of au- ly non-Portlandian variety—folks that might a newspaper of similar size with a similarly thority over us, but I don’t really feel it, and not recycle every page, or look kindly at sec- diverse readership. I don’t think anybody here does. There has tions celebrating reefer. After Colorado voters passed an initia- never been a point where I’ve been in any way In August 2015, Oregonian staff writer tive legalizing recreational use of cannabis in concerned about the legality.” Noelle Crombie posted a job announcement to November 2012, Gov. John Hickenlooper Ü

MJR 2016 47 FEATURES

signed a pair of bills the following May mak- Post at the bottom of the page. The section is ing the state the world’s first fully regulated also striking in its juxtaposition of hard news market for recreational cannabis. The Denver stories and magniloquent reviews, including Post decided it would devote an entire section a “Strain of the Day” for hot new varieties of to this multi-faceted sub- the drug. ject. Aleta Labak, “We’re going to have “We developed a digital producer for some fun—with a mix The Cannabist, came of news, entertainment team of writers, not to the section after and culture stories,” Post working for the Post News Director Kevin just one dude who as a copy editor and Dale wrote in a Novem- designer in news, fea- ber 2013 editorial an- is our pot guru. It’s tures and sports since nouncing their hiring of 1999. a pot editor. “Say what part of our culture “We needed to you want about the news- create our own very paper industry, but The here now, and it has specific cannabis cov- Post is the most powerful erage,” Labak said. “It news organization in the become part of the offers the opportuni- region. We know how ty to explore the cul- to cover big stories. And paper the same way tural aspects and the with pot, you ain’t seen normalization versus nothing yet.” booze has always it being purely policy A week later the Post changes and regula- announced it was putting been a part of tions.” entertainment editor and She said long- music critic.Ricardo Baca journalism.” time readers’ re- at the helm of the new actions to it have section, who proudly varied, with some ac- partook in pot himself, though he said in an cusing the paper of being anti-marijuana, and interview announcing his hiring that he was others saying the editorial staff is advocating “not a full-on stoner.” for its use. The Post’s cannabis section soon became “It’s been fun watching history unfold,” known as The Cannabist, with an edgy on- Labak said. “I think we started out with a good line layout independent from the rest of the strong foundation. We cover everything from paper, only mentioning its affiliation with the how laws are changing to reviews and how it’s

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In 2015, the Willamette Week launched The Potlander, which claims to be Portland’s first complete dis- pensary guide. COURTESY OF THE WILLAMETTE WEEK

growing in acceptance. But questions are being Regardless of the flowery details of The raised every day about how it’s being regulated. Cannabist’s reviews, they are geared as much Right now there is a lot of focus on how mar- toward the novice as the hardcore stoner, La- ijuana is being grown commercially, the pesti- bak said. cides that are being used, as people try to figure “We’re just trying to help give more in- out what’s safe and what’s not.” formation about the various products on the That question of safety turns out to be market so that people can be more informed one of their big legal concerns when it comes when they go into a shop and are faced with to reviews. six different strains out there.” t “The reviewers are trying these products and reporting what the effects are to them, Paul Queneau is a 2002 graduate of University of but we’re just careful not to say that any will Montana’s School of Journalism and has worked treat a certain medical condition, because as conservation editor at the Rocky Mountain marijuana hasn’t been qualified as such on a Elk Foundation’s magazine, Bugle, for the past federal level,” Labak said. “I don’t think it’s 12 years. He’s also taught at the J-School as an our place to make any recommendation as adjunct professor and edits Communiqué, the far as a particular strain having a certain J-School’s alumni newsletter. This is his third ar- medical impact.” ticle for MJR.

MJR 2016 49 FEATURE

HELL & BACK Why we failed in 2015 and what we learned moving forward

BY REAGAN COLYER

t was just a shitshow for the most part.” “Until that point I thought we had That is how Madelyn Beck remembers done a great job, and this entire process November 6, 2014, the final night of that we were responsible for had essential- editing on Montana Journalism Re- ly fallen apart,” said Jesse Flickinger, one view issue 44. Beck was deputy man- of the three copy editors assigned to the aging editor and she, with most of MJR’s cover story. At 8 p.m., pizza was ordered. I21-person staff, started work on the final Some staff members slouched in chairs and draft during the regular 80-minute class pe- others sat on the floor, trying to fix design riod. At 6:30 p.m., class should have been problems stemming from the departure of over, but Beck and her team would stay hard MJR’s art director early in the semester. at work in room 305 of Don Anderson Hall Stressed, frustrated and tired, they devoted for the next eight hours. She wouldn’t leave an entire night to correcting errors to en- until 2 a.m. sure that MJR would Around 7 p.m., a be fit to print. copy editor noticed a “Until that point But in the end, problem with the cover it wasn’t. In mid-De- story, “Transients of the I thought we had cember, an email from Digital Age.” Written Darrell Ehrlick, editor by Bjorn Bergeson, the done a great job, of the Billings Gazette, eight-page spread exam- reached MJR Edi- ined the growing need and this entire tor-in-Chief Henriette for journalists to span Lowisch. Ehrlick ex- the divide between print process that we pressed concern over and broadcast media in were responsible the cover story, spe- order to stay relevant and cifically references to keep jobs. To exemplify for had essentially “massive downsizing” the trend, Bergeson fo- at the Gazette, which cused his reporting on fallen apart.” had, in fact, never four Montana journalists occurred. The Ga- from Missoula, Helena zette also voiced oth- and Billings. But something was wrong. The er grievances: factual and logistical errors MJR staff hoped that only a few words were such as inaccurate dates and an assertion off, but soon they realized the copy of the sto- that a Gazette employee had been fired. He ry was an early, unedited draft of Bergeson’s had actually left of his own accord to take story, not the fact-checked version. Even another job with a Billings television sta- worse, the edited copy was nowhere to be tion. All were errors that could have been found, caught somewhere between the uni- avoided with more thorough fact check- versity server and a separate dropbox system ing. At the copy slam the staff had focused the staff used while working from home. All more on design flaws than on accuracy, they could do was start re-editing the story and when publication time rolled around from memory. the effect was immediate. Ü

The 2015 issue of the Montana Journalism Review. PHOTO BY JAKE GREEN

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CORRECTION

A version of the article “Transients of the Digital Age,” which was published in the print edition of MJR 2015, contained several errors:

The article stated that Greg Tuttle, online editor at Q2, left the Billings Gazette because he was laid off as part of a massive downsizing. We failed to double-check this information. In fact, Tuttle said he left out of his own volition and there was no massive downsizing at the Gazette, according to editor Darrell Ehrlick.

The article stated that at Q2, Tuttle took the job of Kyle Rickhoff, the Gazette’s digital media director. While it’s true that Rickhoff went from Q2 to the Gazette, this occurred five years before Tuttle’s move in the opposite direction, so Tuttle wasn’t hired to replace Rickhoff, as the sentence implies.

The article stated that Rickhoff started working at Q2 when he was 15, and that he worked in the control room and made com- mercials there. In fact, Rickhoff first worked at KULR-8, another television station, before he moved to Q2 in 2002. The Gazette hired him as online editor in 2008 and promoted him to digital media director in November of 2013.

The article stated that, once he was at the Gazette, Rickhoff brought on four other Q2 employees. In fact, he brought on two former Q2 employees.

The article stated that Rickhoff wanted to be a VJ, or video jockey, in his youth. What Rickhoff meant to say was that he wanted to be a radio DJ.

The article stated that Sanjay Talwani, a former print reporter, joined KXLH in January of 2014. In fact, he joined KXLH in October of 2013.

In addition, the caption for a photo on page 22 also contained an inaccuracy. It states that Emily Foster creates the entire 4:06 show by herself. In fact, she works with a colleague who edits the video and posts it online.

We regret the errors, which were immediately corrected in our digital editions.

MJR 2016 51 FEATURE

EXTRA 4 Steps for More Accuracy Now there was a new problem: how does After the errors were noticed and point- an annual publication go about correcting er- ed out, managing editor Austin Schempp MJR has striven for perfection in rors when it will be 11 months before the next contacted the Student Press Law Center reporting since the beginning, but issue? The five Lee Enterprises newspapers (SPLC), an advocacy nonprofit based in as all journalists know, there’s always in Montana requested a correction letter be Washington, D.C. Schempp wanted to room for improvement. So this year, mailed to the entire MJR mailing list of about make sure MJR took the best possible steps some changes were made to streamline 750 people, but ultimately Lowisch and Uni- to rectify the situation, and SPLC Executive the editorial process and guard against versity of Montana School of Journalism dean Director Frank LoMonte believed it did. He future mistakes: Larry Abramson decided against it. said an online correction was the best re- Abramson said the mistakes were cer- course for an annual publication. tainly serious and needed to be correct- MJR is annual, which means the mag- ed immediately, but he didn’t agree they azine is staffed four months of the year. It’s In previous years, MJR hasn’t had an were damaging to the Gazette’s reputation. a student publication of a different kind, editorial handbook for authors and “Some errors are simple errors of details and the product of a UM senior capstone class editors to abide by. This year, the some errors really undermine the entire ar- offered every fall semester. An entirely new staff developed one in order to have ticle,” he said. “I didn’t feel like this under- staff is selected each year and beginning with common guidelines of fact checking, mined the entire article.” the start of classes, students have two and a copy editing Extensive review of the cover story half months before MJR goes to print. It’s and formatting. began as soon as concerns were raised, and one of the most authentic and professional staff writer Bjorn Bergeson said he immedi- experiences a journalism student at UM can While many of the articles published ately started calling back his sources to con- get. It offers opportunity for more than just in this magazine come from seasoned firm what had been said during interviews. writing and editing; it allows for an experi- outside contributors, staff writers are “It was a crazy and humbling expe- ence of what it’s like to really screw up. asked to keep and submit their notes to rience in a lot of ways,” Bergeson said. “It Peggy Kuhr, dean of the UM School fact checkers for story corroboration. sucks to have to call a source up after a sto- of Journalism from 2007 to 2012 and now ry’s already gone to print.” Vice-President for Integrated Communica- Instead of the requested letter, an online tions at the university, thinks the long-term In a turn for the old school, all fact correction was published as quickly as possi- effects of last ear’sy mistakes will be more checks and copy edits are made on ble on the MJR website, as well as associated positive than negative, because for the new hard copies of each story rather than Facebook and Twitter pages. A printed cor- staff, “the game’s been upped.” And even af- electronic versions. This eliminates the rection was produced and inserted in copies ter what she calls last year’s “shitshow,” Mad- risk of being left high and dry without of MJR that had yet to be mailed. Ehrlick elyn Beck agrees. the edited version of a piece. appreciated the effort, but didn’t feel the Ga- “We’re going to be able to learn from zette’s requests had been adequately met. it which is part of it, part of the whole rea- Once editing is complete, changes are “We were satisfied with the correction son to do MJR,” she said. “Now, when MJR reviewed by one of MJR’s four senior part of it,” he said. “We were just a little alumni become professional journalists, editors and entered onto the digital file disappointed...not a little, we were very they’ll know exactly what it’s like to be in with the story’s disappointed in the distribution part of the the hot seat, and what to do if they ever find fact checker. correction.” themselves there again.” t

52 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

LOADEDHow a recent REVISIONS change in the way the Pentagon views journalists leaves them in the line of fire

BY KATIE RIORDAN

att Robbins and offered career advice to the aspiring photographer. belligerents,” defined as “persons engaging Bryan Denton met in The irony of Robbins’ initial in spying, sabotage, and similar acts behind Marjah, Afghanistan, words is not lost on either of them. enemy lines or private persons engaging in in 2010. It was mid- The marine-turned-journalist hostilities and removes rights afforded to enemy February, and the U.S.-led says he was young at the time and combatants.” Reporting on military operations offensive to drive the Taliban from a strong- was still processing his worldviews. can be “very similar to collecting intelligence or Mhold in the country’s south had just begun. “I didn’t understand how journalism even spying,” the manual’s authors go on to say. Neither remembers the exact day the played such a big role. I thought in black and Journalists are mentioned on no more then 19-year-old marine from Alabama white. They are trying to kill us and civilians are than nine pages in the almost 1,200-page caught a glimpse of the towering 6-foot-6, here taking pictures,” Robbins said about his document, but the pithy text is enough for 27-year-old freelance photographer from mindset as a soldier on the frontline. Though the media to decry the manual as a dangerous California. But the two recall almost word he still offers fairly conservative views on media affront to the profession. “This broad and for word what Robbins first said to Denton. access to the battlefield, he now thinks there poorly defined category gives U.S. military “You aren’t taking pictures of is a place for journalists in combat zones. commanders across all services the purported dead bodies, are you? Because I am While cooler heads prevail in times of right to at least detain journalists without liable to fucking shoot you if you do.” peace, the question remains what rules, precisely, charge, and without any apparent need to show Robbins, backed by a military mission, should govern the tension between the military evidence or bring a suspect to trial,” wrote was in Afghanistan driving current events. and the press when they meet on the battlefield. Frank Smyth, a senior adviser for the New Denton, owing his presence to the public’s Journalists and press freedom York-based Committee to Protect Journalists belief in a fourth estate, was documenting it. advocates are currently demanding that (CPJ), in a scathing analysis of the manual. The two men, now 25 and 32, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Reporters fear the wording puts have since stayed in touch. Robbins, rescind or at least rewrite guidelines regarding them on ambiguous footing. whose broad shoulders are a testament journalists outlined in the June 2015 release of to his time with his infantry battalion, the first ever DoD-wide Law of War Manual. “I worry the military is trying to is now a photojournalism student at the The press corps is unnerved by the remove their responsibility,” said Jackie University of Montana. Denton works manual’s guidelines that spell out the potential Spinner, a former reporter for The Washington primarily with The New York Times and has for journalists to be classified as “unprivileged Post who covered the wars in Afghanistan Ü

MJR 2016 53 FEATURE

and Iraq. “It’s too easy for them to say ‘that “Our plan is to update the wasn’t really a journalist—that was a spy.’ manual on a regular basis,” he said, Who is a spy and what does that mean?” adding that DoD officials were meeting with Others are afraid that the rule bureau chiefs as part of “ongoing efforts to adds a degree of aggression to understand the concerns that have been raised by an already dangerous situation. journalists and to seek to clarify misconceptions.” “In some ways it feels like open Two of the organizations who have been season on journalists right now,” said Holly the most outspoken about the manual, the Pickett, a University of Montana graduate CPJ and The New York Times, both told and photojournalist based in Istanbul who Montana Journalism Review they had not been has covered several war-torn countries with approached by the Pentagon as of October 2015. U.S. military presence, including Iraq and Smyth suspects the language used Afghanistan. “What’s troubling to me is that’s in the manual cuts at deeper issues with how dictatorships and other governments do reporting that make the U.S. government uneasy. see journalists, as belligerents and fair game “The real issue is the Pentagon wants as far as being a target. That’s what’s trou- the ability to jail anyone who has a relation bling, puts us in the same category and gives with an insurgent group,” he said. Smyth other governments justification that journalists specifically referred to journalists from oth- are spies and helping one side or another.” er countries, explaining that in order for The publication of the a reporter to tell all sides of a story, it is Pentagon’s Laws of War coincided with what often necessary for them to have contacts advocacy groups characterize as a worldwide with groups the U.S. government might deterioration of the freedom of classify as insurgent or terrorist organizations. information. Two-thirds of the 180 In fact, the manual could prove most countries surveyed for Reporters Without formidable for local journalists who bear Borders’ 2015 World Press Freedom Index the greatest risks in reporting on conflict. performed worse than in the previous year. The Naseer Nouri, an Iraqi native and former United States dropped three places to 49th place. correspondent, translator and fixer for The Pentagon has fielded the Washington Post, said U.S. military several press inquiries regarding authorities often are more wary of local journalists’ concerns since the manual’s release. It journalists than of their American colleagues. consistently responded that the manual “Suspicion comes first,” he said. has been misinterpreted and emphasized its “They look at them like they are commitment to the freedom of the bad unless they prove otherwise.” press. Yet DoD spokesman Army Lt. On the other hand, Barry Johnson, a Col. Joe Sowers stated in an email retired army colonel who served as a pub- that concerns raised by members of lic affairs officer in Iraq during four combat the fourth estate will be taken into tours, says he has personally come up against consideration in future versions of the manual. the issue of insurgents posing as journalists.

54 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

Some individuals with press troops out of harm’s way but is denounced credentials, he claims, have either been forced or for its lack of transparency and civilian chosen to work with groups the U.S. labels as death tolls. By default, it removes Western the enemy, which puts soldiers’ lives at risk. journalists from the battlefield, placing more “Part of the reality of warfare today is of a burden on local journalist to cover that they aren’t looking for tactical victories. these no-go zones. That’s why Denton, the They aren’t looking to beat us on the ground,” photojournalist, thinks the new manual hasn’t Johnson said. “They need journalists.” made a bigger splash in some journalism circles. While Johnson understands the uproar “As ominous as it is, most of us the manual has created, haven’t heard because he thinks even if the we haven’t rubbed wording was changed or against it,” he said. deleted, it would leave a The manual “Local press that could be grey area unaccounted declared unprivileged for in conflict zones. could prove most belligerents under these “What I believe newer flexible rules of is really lacking engagement would likely on both sides on formidable be in increased danger.” military and journalist As the U.S. organizations is a real for local military shifts from sincere discussion of deploying ground troops to what it means to report journalists who assisting local forces in war zones. It’s not on a case-by-case basis, what is was before.” bear the greatest journalists witnessing Indeed, while battles increasingly the manual could find themselves engender dangerous risks in reporting on shaky ground. consequences for Sig Christenson, journalists risking their on conflicts. a veteran journalist lives as eyewitnesses, who embedded with it is also seen as a troops in Iraq and reflection of the Afghanistan, is adamant changing dimensions of warfare. Since World that if the Pentagon does not reassess its rules War I, U.S. journalists have been adapting of war manual regarding the press, a public to evolving military policy. Now they face relations nightmare or worse is waiting to an era where wars are waged virtually, via happen. He draws on personal experience from YouTube, or remotely, through drones. his time in Afghanistan to create a possible The drone program, currently operated scenario of how ambiguous language can be in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, keeps U.S. interpreted and used as a form of control.Ü

MJR 2016 55 FEATURE

Jackie Spinner covering the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq in November 2004, for The Washington Post. PHOTO COURTESY OF JACKIE SPINNER

“We were in the middle of a battle in downtown enemy is.” But Christenson stresses that the war Kabul when the Taliban came in and tried to take manual’s language will not end up protecting anyone. down [former Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and “I understand that language and guarantee you that blow up a mall,” Christenson said. “What would have language is trouble,” he said. “Because one day, a local happened if a commander came up to us and said, ‘Who commander will do something hot-headed. This will the hell are you and what are you doing?’ What if he create an incident that someone at the very top will have said, ‘I am not sure who you are. I think you are an to fix. You can see this mess coming from a mile away.” unprivileged belligerent and I am taking you into The war manual in its current form just doesn’t custody.’ That is a form of control that is make sense and will have to be rethought, agrees Colleen extremely dangerous and creates a situation McGuire, a retired brigadier general and University of that everyone is sorry for later.” Montana graduate. McGuire frequently worked with Christenson, who is also president of the Military the press throughout her military career and in 2010 Reporters and Editors Association, an organization was appointed the Army’s Provost Marshal General. with a mission to ensure that journalists have access If the U.S. hopes to keep the often tectonic-plate-like to places where the U.S. military and its allies operate, relationship between the armed forces and their believes the Pentagon likely did not intend to wage a watchdogs from combusting, clearer rules war on the press. The DoD was attempting to protect are needed, she said. itself against threats from unidentified sources, he said. “If it’s confusing to journalists, then it would be “Let’s face it, they do have a problem,” he said. confusing to a commander in the field,” McGuire said. “The “The military in these places do not know who the Department of Defense needs to go back to the chalkboard.”t

Katie Riordan is a freelance journalist currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Montana. She has reported from Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

56 ISSUE 45 FEATURE BEAR THE HEAT Why the media shouldn’t protect advertisers from negative reader comments

BY PEREGRINE FRISSEL

early every story on the the nation are struggling with comment bars, Billings Gazette website which often spur off-topic, inflammatory, includes a bar at the bot- ill-informed and even libelous reader com- tom where readers can ments. And that struggle can be even more post comments. difficult when advertisers are involved, testing At least two stories, however, lack that the traditional wall between news and adver- bar. N tising. Both of those stories are about Steve The issue risks to become inflamed in Zabawa, owner and co-founder of Rimrock rural areas, where the temptation to protect Auto Group, which buys ads in the paper ev- advertisers can be great, as they may be more ery week, according to the Gazette’s advertis- difficult to replace if they choose to leave. ing department. Is it wrong to shield The stories docu- advertisers from the bar- ment Zabawa’s failed “The same laws barous area at the end of 2014 effort to organize a online news articles? petition to ban medical that help the According to Kelly marijuana in the state of McBride, a media ethi- Montana. critical reviewers cist at the Poynter Insti- Kyle Rickhoff, dig- tute—yes. She says free ital director of Billings out there are the speech in online com- Gazette Communica- ment sections needs to tions, said the newspaper be upheld. removed the comment laws that help the “Comments are bars on those stories af- problematic, and they ter the discussion “went trolls.” are also important for off topic and was no lon- democracy,” McBride ger discussing the medical marijuana issue.” said. “Journalism exists to further civic en- He wouldn’t say what the discussion had gagement, and when you don’t allow the turned to. public to engage around your content, you Rickhoff said advertising had nothing to push them away and they will go somewhere do with the decision, while Darrell Ehrlick, else to engage.” editor-in-chief of the Gazette, declined to This is true even in rural states like say if the paper has a policy about removing Montana in the digital era. People now have comments on stories that may reflect poorly options—if newspapers police comments, on advertisers. readers can flock to social media websites like Zabawa launched a new anti-marijuana Facebook and Twitter or the sites of other campaign in 2015. The comment sections on news organizations. the most recent articles are enabled. Rickhoff said the Billings Gazette’s com- Media ethicists and editors of newspa- ment policy is to “let it fly, and then if some- pers and television news programs all over one thinks something is inappropriate they Ü

MJR 2016 57 FEATURE

ILLUSTRATION BY AUSTIN HOFSCHIELD

will flag it to us.” The newspaper does all their Brown said his newspaper contracts with monitoring in-house, while many outlets a third-party company to monitor comments. have at least some done through a third party. Part of this filtering includes establishing a “If the entire thread is shifting into database of words that are often associated a section which we don’t want, we sort of re- with racist, sexist or otherwise inflammatory move that entire discussion,” Rickhoff said. remarks, Brown said. The company automat- He said the Gazette removes comment bars ically flags comments containing those terms less than a dozen times a year. However, he to make sure they do not go live on the web- could not point to any stories, aside from site. the two about Zabawa, where comment bars Brown said the Flathead Beacon has were removed. Ehrlick also declined to point never had an issue with commenters defam- out any additional stories where comments ing their advertisers online, but if it did, the had been disabled, but said it happened only paper might consider taking those comments rarely. down. He said the paper’s policy has been to The paper has written several other sto- let readers deal with issues with local busi- ries about Zabawa that focus on his business nesses on their own, because claims made interests. Those stories include comment on the website are difficult for the paper to bars. confirm. Several Montana news outlets are strug- NBC Montana uses Facebook Com- gling with the Wild West of online comments Plugin to monitor comments, accord- ments. ing to digital manager William Miller. That Kellyn Brown, editor-in-chief of the helps, but the recent plague has come from Flathead Beacon in Kalispell, said comments memes that can’t be picked up by the text can be problematic at a small news organi- monitoring software, he said. zation. Miller said the station’s comment policy

58 ISSUE 45 FEATURE

is simple: don’t attack other readers person- study that said readers exposed to negative ally and be civil. He said he would consider comments ended up with a much more po- taking down comments that attacked adver- larized view of the content found in the ar- tisers, though he also said that has never hap- ticle. pened. “Even a fractious minority wields It turns out that news organizations enough power to skew a reader’s perception face little to no legal risk for what appears in of a story,” Suzanne Labarre said in the ed- their comments section, including potentially itorial. slanderous or libelous statements. But most media outlets don’t use such a Lee Banville, a media law professor at radical solution. the University of Montana School of Jour- The Billings Gazette, for one, mere- nalism, said news organizations are protected ly closes comment bars on selected articles, from responsibility for what others publish including articles involving advertisers. This on their site. The Communications Decency leads some to question the paper’s priorities. Act of 1996 exonerates news sites from all the “You don’t make news judgment based indecent comments readers may post. on who your advertisers are,” said Ed Kem- “The same laws that help the critical re- mick, editor-in-chief of the Montana online viewers out there are the laws that help the news and commentary site Last Best News. trolls,” Banville said. “This is the American Kemmick, who used to work for the take on free speech. More is better than less. Gazette, stressed he had no specific knowl- More means a little bit of anarchy, and some- edge of a policy or instance of comment po- times a lot of anarchy when it comes to what licing since leaving the Gazette two years is being said.” ago. In his opinion, newspapers should Banville also said news organizations be upfront about what their comment policy that police comments are more liable than is. ones that leave them all up, because it shows “It wouldn’t be so bad if they would they are monitoring comments for content. come out and say it: Steve Zabawa is a valu- If an organization that has a history of tak- able advertiser so we don’t want him publicly ing down comments leaves something up on shamed,” Kemmick said. their site, it appears they have deemed it ap- Steve Zabawa, that valuable advertiser, propriate. If that comment were libelous, the said he had read negative comments about paper would have a higher risk of getting into himself before on the Gazette website but legal trouble. had never asked to have them removed. He News organizations have reacted to this said he supports free speech and people’s reality in a myriad of ways. Sites like CNN, right to comment whatever they please. Gawker and the Chicago Sun-Times have all “That’s America,” he said.t drastically scaled back or halted comments altogether. Peregrine is a senior journalism student at the In 2013, the magazine Popular Science University of Montana and a native of Pol- completely removed the comment bars on its son, Montana. He spent the summer of 2015 website. interning at the Nepali Times in Kathman- In an editorial from September of that du, Nepal reporting on earthquake recovery. year, the magazine’s online content director said “comments can be bad for science,” and Upon graduating, he hopes to find work as an cited a University of Wisconsin–Madison investigative journalist.

MJR 2016 59

FORECAST

On Campaign Spending How to spot dark money in the web of native advertising

BY EVE BYRON

Even though the 2016 elections won’t The Center for Responsive Politics Much of that information won’t be avail- take place for several months, money is reports that by fall 2015, political organiza- able until after the election when groups already pouring into Montana’s political tions trying to influence the 2016 elections file eportsr with the Montana Secretary of races. In addition to familiar television, had already raised more than $258 million, State, the IRS or the Federal Elections Com- radio and newspaper ads, expect to see almost 10 times what was raised at the same mission. While many journalists—and the paid advertisements on Facebook, pop- point during the 2012 election. And that’s public—suffer from political fatigue in the up ads on websites and in your email in- just for federal elections. aftermath of an election, it’s still important box, plus political ads on Instagram and Understanding how to track politi- to track those dollars and compare that other social media sites. The challenge for cal dollars can be difficult because we’re to the legislation that’s put forth by those journalists will be to account for the talking about two different pools of elected officials. money spent by groups not directly money here—one pool is given to can- All of this money in politics may affiliated with a candidate or ballot didates and ballot measures, the other be a boon to newspapers and local news measure—especially in light of the new is spent by candidates and commit- stations. But in this era of targeted wave of social media advertising. tees, as well as by outside groups and marketing and social media, it’s difficult While some of this ad spending is organizations. While $13.5 million was to predict whether those organizations clearly from a candidate or ballot measure given to state candidates and committees in will reap the benefits of more money in committee, it’s also flowing from sources 2012, the total reaches almost $27 million politics, or whether direct marketing will not directly affiliated with those groups. -Re when factoring in “dark money” reported pull from the traditional “legacy” media member the Special Operations for America to the Montana Secretary of State’s office. outlets. You can bet, however, that the lega- (SOFA) political action committee, found- It’s fairly easy to track the amount of cy media will do everything they can to tap ed by now-Congressman Ryan Zinke but money given directly to Montana candi- into the election advertising market; social not formally coordinating with him on dates and ballot measures, since it must media will continue to evolve to fight for political advertising in 2014? Often the be reported. However, for the outside those dollars; and intrepid reporters will links aren’t quite so clear, posing a challenge groups making independent expenditures need to put on their running shoes to track even for seasoned political journalists. to try to impact elections, it’s a little trickier. down all of the money in politics in 2016.t

Eve Byron is a former reporter and current media outreach director for the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which received a one million dollar MacArthur [grant in 2015. She can be reached at [email protected]. [ 61 FORECAST

Media and the Environment When journalists decide to write about science, the experience can be both intimidating and frustrating for everyone involved. Reporters vie for charismatic charac- ters and gripping footage, while researchers hedge and hide behind scientific jargon. Angela Luis, a population ecologist at the University of Montana who specializes in science communication, has seen this process play out 5 SCIENTISTS many times. “The stories likely to be missed by journalists are those that are inaccessible because they require too much suggest the specialty background knowledge to understand, which isn’t always the reporter’s fault,” Luis said. But if you ask UM scientists for stories that need more, and better, media coverage in 2016, you’ll be sur- STORIES of 2016 prised: rather than focusing on incremental scientific ad- t vances, they’ll be delivering big-picture ideas.

Matt Roberts worked as a technician for a cancer diagnostics lab, an PHOTOS AND TEXT BY MATT ROBERTS agricultural development communicator and an ethanol preparation and distribution specialist (bartender) before pursuing a graduate degree in science journalism at the University Montana.

MICHAEL DEGRANDPRE

Professor of chemistry and biochemistry On Sea Level Rise

“It’s bad. It’s one thing to have warming and have the distribution of organisms change and some species go extinct. But when you’re talking about thousands of square miles getting inundated with water, that’s a major refugee problem. You talk about the possibility of Bangladesh flooding, but people don’t give a damn about them here in the U.S., of course. But if you talk about Florida and Manhattan, it definitely starts to raise some eyebrows. Those politicians will go down in infamy for not doing something sooner.”

CARA NELSON Associate professor of restoration ecology On Conservation Practices

“Conservation in decades previous was about setting land aside and not touching it and preserving populations at the brink. Now, people have recognized that an important conponent of conservation is actually having people assist in the repair of degrading ecosystems. So that’s something really new. It’s interesting that in restoration there are almost always strong social benefits and those are important in their own right. But without articulating and telling the story of those social benefits the projects are at risk.”

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STEVEN W. RUNNING Regents’ professor of ecology, former Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change member, climate change scientist On Oil and Fracking Booms

“The oil and fracking business in the Bakken is another classic boom and bust cycle of the energy industry. They’re just like a damned 1800s gold rush where they come storming into town to try and get as rich as they can. As soon as the play runs out they’re off...The fact that we let them flare off hundreds of millions of dollars of gas because they don’t want to bother collecting it and selling it—why do we let them do that? I don’t think our state journalists scrutinize this hard enough. It’s a manifestation of we as a society just letting the fossil fuel industry just do what it wants.”

KELSEY JENCSO Montana state climatologist and watershed hydrologist On Water Supply

“Water is going to become the new gold. It’s a precious commodity. Investors and large global corporations and investment firms see that opportunity. And it’s really important for Montanans to start understanding that we need to know how much water we have. We need to make sure that we keep those resources within Montana and that we don’t farm the ability to make those decisions out to people that aren’t from Montana. We need to make sure we own our water and that we keep track of it so that we can effectively manage it.”

TONY WARD Associate professor, School of Public and Community Health Science On Increasing Seasonal Forest Fire Smoke

“I think we will be seeing bigger impacts from climate change and one of the impacts is forest fire smoke every single summer from here on out. Before ’97, like once a decade, it would be a bad fire season. Now it seems like every summer there’s smoke. The forests are getting drier. You’re getting more intense fire seasons that are lasting longer. It not only impacts the populations outdoors. We did some measurements inside the laboratory during the forest fire season and it showed there’s actually high levels of wood smoke inside.”

MJR 2016 63 FORECAST Q&A Storytelling

“One good story can IRA GLASS ON FINDING GOOD STORIES be your calling card” AND TELLING THEM WELL

BY CHERI TRUSLER

Cheri Trusler caught up with This American Life host Ira Glass to chat about the future of radio, the West and being heard. Glass came to Missoula to perform a solo show as part of Montana Public Radio’s 50th anniversary year.

What is the future of podcasting? Is this just the start of something or will its popularity fizzle out?

I can talk authoritatively about the little corner of journalism that I’m in, right? That is long-form narrative journalism. In our little corner of the world, it has never been better. It’s hard to believe with millions of people tdownloading these podcasts that there’s not going to be a way for that to continue. So, it’s about finding the one thing Nationally, radio stories from Mon- that you’re best at telling? tana and small places seem to be un- derappreciated; how can we make our- It’s about finding a story that’s really great selves heard? and telling it well. The way you do that is by making a bunch of stuff. You just keep I mean if you find a good story, people will making stuff and you be rigorous about it. want to run it elsewhere. Things are go- You have people listen to it and critique ing on here that other people around the it and you make your stories better and country, I’m sure, will want to hear. I don’t better. That’s something I did as a baby know anything about Montana at all. But reporter. I can tell you, I and lots of people have Is there a difference between radio in hours of airtime to fill and we are looking the West and in the East? for stories that people haven’t heard before. If that’s what you guys have, you should be Are you trying to start a rap war? I know aggressive and let us know what they are. nothing about the difference so I can’t help with this, but the notion that you guys What should we as young journalists would have a hip-hop war with the Co- be doing to catch this wave of momen- lumbia Journalism Review, I completely tum? support that. Because those guys are definitely suckers.t If you can make something that seems really special, all you have to do is do it Cheri Trusler grew up listening to radio on her once, I think. Just get it onto some show family ranch in Eastern Montana, practicing her ILLUSTRATION BY BRENDAN CASEY and I think people will notice. I really do own radio voice. College led her to the world of Brendan Casey is an art school drop out who uses think that any one good story can be your podcasting. She works at Montana Public Radio as his humble skills with the pen to make silly little calling card. the evening newscaster. comics for the Montana Kaimin

64 ISSUE 45 FORECAST On Ethics Why journalism values need a radical reboot

BY STEPHEN J. A. WARD Some journalists today, by traditional journalism ethics. Even troubled by disorientating change, if time-honored principles such as avoid philosophical questions accuracy are maintained, there are and fixate on particular problems. disputes as to their meaning. What does How should journalists use social accuracy mean in an era of instant updating? media on breaking stories? What Where reinterpretations of corrections are required for live principles such as objectivity are blogging? How should news not available, we are left with a outlets use drones? conceptual “hole” in the middle The attention to the practical of our ethics. is natural. Newsrooms are news- The result: We lack an agreed- production centers, with limited upon framework for evaluating time — and tolerance — for practice. Journalism ethics is like theoretical discussions. Humpty Dumpty after his big Yet the hard-nosed fall. It’s a mess. attitude of “just decide what to do in In Radical Media Ethics: A this situation and stop the Global Approach, I argue that the only philosophizing” is utterly inadequate way to rescue journalism ethics from in an era of digital and global media sinking into oblivion is to think where journalists disagree on the radically in terms of new ideas. I offer fundamental aims and principles new principles in an experimental spirit. of the practice. For example, the traditional The most serious problem for notion of objectivity as “just the facts” journalism ethics today is conceptual: needs to be replaced by what I call the sorry state of the very framework pragmatic objectivity. The latter is a of ideas we call journalism ethics. method for evaluating stories viewed as This framework, inherited interpretations, not facts-only from a non-global, pre-digital reports. Pragmatic objectivity journalism, portrays the journalist as a uses a wider range of criteria of professional gatekeeper who evaluation, from consistency of beliefs serves the public by informing to surviving the scrutiny of the public. citizens truthfully, impartially, The tweaking of ideas, as objectively and independently. seen in recent revisions of codes of She uses time-consuming ethics, is a temporary, localized fix. In verification procedures. Given my book, I reformulate the aims of this interpretation, we have a journalism in global terms, common means of evaluating practices. making the advancement of a global The media revolution humanity the primary goal of journalism, undermined the framework. not the advancement of national interests. Principles, such as impartiality, Without a framework, we are questioned. New practitioners have a clash of values with little prefer an interpretive journalism far common ground. We need to be from the “straight” reporting admired radical in thought and in practice.t

Stephen J. A. Ward, Ph.D., is an internationally-recognized media ethicist, award-winning author and educator in Madison, Wisconsin. He is an honorary fellow at the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin and Distinguished Lecturer in Ethics at the University of British Columbia. He was a foreign reporter, war correspondent and newsroom bureau chief for 14 years. Web: www.mediamorals.org Twitter: @StephenJAWard.

MJR 2016 65 FORECAST

Film Reel THREE STRIPPERS, TWO CAMERAS, AND A DIFFERENT VIEW OF MONTANA

Still frame from the documentary film “Stripped” PHOTO BY MELISSA BRING COULIER

66 ISSUE 45 FORECAST

THREE STRIPPERS, TWO CAMERAS, AND A DIFFERENT VIEW OF MONTANA

BY LAURA SCHEER

Through a hole in a rigged purse, a primarily on three women: a mother living camera films a woman sliding half-naked with her child in Missoula, another raising down a pole. Faces fade in and out of two children and her nephew in Butte and darkness, dollar bills pile up and talking a retired dancer working for an eye care to filmmakers could result in termination. professional in Bozeman. The images of Montana in the new doc- The Montana Film Office was umentary, “Stripped,” are a far cry from concerned about any explicit content the landscape-filled when Coulier and scenes the public is Phillips initially used to seeing. pitched the idea, Montana born said Deny Skaggs, filmmakers Melissa the film comm- Coulier and Fleur issioner. Phillips bring au- However, once diences into the life Skaggs heard more of fast cash, bright about the film’s lights and internal message and found struggles led by out the filmmakers exotic dancers in are from Montana, the state. For Cou- he decided to sup- lier, the project is port the project. about more than “They are dancing—it’s about trying to bring giving the women a different point a voice. of view to the It took months industry that no of scouring websites one talks about,” like XoticSpot and Skaggs said. Craigslist to find Coulier hopes women willing to Montanans watch be filmed. Even af- the doumentary ter that, club own- despite the fact ers put up roadblocks, threatening to fire that its subject is taboo, adding that any dancers involved in the documentary and hardworking individual will appreciate forcing the film crew to go, at times, its message. undercover. “There may be judgment,” she said, The all-female ground crew filmed “but the girls aren’t keeping the clubs “Stripped” over three months, focusing open, the community is.”t

As an environmental science and natural resource journalism graduate student at the University of Montana, Laura reported on the competition for rail space between Montana grain growers and Bakken crude oil. She is currently a freelance writer based in Missoula. Laura enjoys spending her time outdoors, cooking without instructions and coconut oil in her morning coffee.

MJR 2016 67 FORECAST The Kids Are All Right BY CALLAN BERRY From coding to marketing to illustrating, young journalists are finding work behind the screen in new and creative ways.

68 ISSUE 45 IRA GLASS JOURNALISTS FREELANCERS TALKS PODCASTS AND WILDFIRE FIGHT BACK

MJR 2016 : ISSUE 45

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