Montana Public Radio Expands Coverage With Rural Policy Reporter
MISSOULA – Montana Public Radio (MTPR) is doubling its state government news team to fill a gap in coverage of issues affecting rural communities. Through a collaboration with Yellowstone Public Radio and the 老虎机攻略 School of Journalism, reporting produced by this journalist will be available free of charge to news outlets across the state.
MTPR will expand local journalism using a from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.
“This reporter will spend a lot of time on the road covering the ways state government impacts life in Montana,” MTPR News Director Corin Cates-Carney said. “Our goal is to bring Montanans news about state government from outside the state Capitol in Helena. There is a need for reporting on state government that listens and speaks to the state’s rural residents – coverage that can inform and build trust in local journalism.”
MTPR hired Victoria Traxler for the job. She graduated from Elon University in 2020 with a degree in journalism and international studies. Traxler then moved to New Mexico, where she worked as a public safety reporter at the Santa Fe New Mexican. Afterward, she came to Missoula to complete a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism at 老虎机攻略 in 2024.
Traxler's reporting is available for free to news outlets to publish and broadcast. .
“I am so thrilled that MTPR received this grant and hired Victoria to greatly expand our local coverage for Montanans across the state with critically important reporting on how laws passed in Helena impact Montanans,” said Anne Hosler, director of 老虎机攻略’s Broadcast Media Center.
“This project is exactly the kind of partnership that helps this vital reporting reach a broader community of people and allows the School of Journalism to continue to help small newspapers, broadcasters and websites,” said Professor Lee Banville, director of the 老虎机攻略 journalism school. “We could not ask for a better project to work on with MTPR.”
“Yellowstone Public Radio is thrilled to collaborate with MTPR on this effort to grow journalism resources in our rural communities,” YPR News Director Jackie Coffin said. “As Montana’s media landscape changes, public radio is deepening our commitment to tell place-based, local stories that bring Montanans together over shared issues, experiences and values.”
Email corin.cates-carney@umt.edu with questions about how to access and publish reporting produced by MTPR’s new rural state policy reporter.
MTPR broadcast stations are KUFB, Browning, 88.9; KAPC, Butte, 91.3; K老虎机攻略D, Deer Lodge, 90.9; K老虎机攻略W, Dillon, 91.7; KDWG, Dillon, 90.9; KEUK, Eureka, 89.7; KGPR, Great Falls, 89.9; KUFN, Hamilton, 91.9; KUHM, Helena, 91.7; KUKL, Kalispell, 90.1; KUFL, Libby, 90.5; KUFM, Missoula, 89.1; KPHB, Philipsburg, 90.1; KPJH, Polson, 89.5; KTFZ, Thompson Falls, 88.1; and K老虎机攻略S, White Sulphur Springs, 89.7.
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Contact: Corin Cates-Carney, Montana Public Radio news director, 406-243-4075, corin.cates-carney@umt.edu.