(Shaylee Ragar is a reporter for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.)
“I’d say I see the connection between democracy and a free press almost daily. It can be small things, like writing a story about state government proposing a change to fishing regulations and asking for public comment or big things like writing about candidates running for state and local office.”
- “My job is to let people know about government decisions or happenings in their community that will affect their everyday lives, and how they can get involved. I spent five months this year covering Montana’s legislature. Our state’s lawmaking body only meets for five months every two years, so big changes in state law happen fast during the session. Every day, Montana lawmakers debated and voted on policies to govern the state, and the citizens of Montana find out about those changes through my reporting. And although it can sometimes feel intimidating, my job is to ask lawmakers tough questions about these policies and explain to the citizens of Montana in plain terms what it means for them.”
- “It’s not always easy to see the direct impact of journalism. However, I did recently report on the decline of the coal industry and what that means for Montana, a state that relies on coal production for jobs and state revenue. I took a trip to Centralia, Washington, a place that has also been dependent on the coal industry, but further along in transitioning away from that dependence. I wrote about what lawmakers in Washington and Centralia are doing to mitigate the impacts of industry decline. After it was published, I got an email from someone who lives in Colstrip, Montana — the hub of Montana’s coal industry — and is on a committee that was planning for Colstrip’s transition. He said he is going to use the story I wrote about Centralia to bring new ideas to Colstrip.”
- “I wish more people understood the ethical guidelines that journalists follow. I know in our newsroom we discuss at the length how to make stories balanced and accurate, and I think if people knew how that due diligence looked, they’d be less inclined to doubt news media. Of course, journalists make mistakes and should be held accountable for that. But I sometimes see criticism that is unfounded and rooted in the notion that news media can’t be trusted. With that said, it is the responsibility of journalists to be transparent about their reporting so people can understand the process.”
(Edited by Kately Rivero)
