Montana Free Press

Montana Free Press aims to be Montana’s source for high-quality, in-depth, and data-informed news, information and analysis. We fill an investigative reporting gap created by the decline of corporate investment in watchdog journalism.
Additionally, MTFP seeks to provide rural Montanans with access to high-quality, statewide reporting. Montana has dozens of newspapers located throughout rural Montana that are either bi-weekly or weekly. These newspapers struggle to provide their readers with news stories of statewide importance, because most cannot afford to subscribe to AP wire services or produce such stories on their own. MTFP seeks to fill this gap and offers our reporting to all editors for free republication under a Creative Commons license.
Other goals include reaching our target audience, growing our organization (both board and staff) in a way that best represents the communities that we serve, creating and maintaining a business model that supports the organization for the long-term.

Our editorial and publishing strategies center around getting high-quality, in-depth reporting into the hands of all Montanans, regardless of willingness or ability to pay for that news. We focus the bulk of our editorial work on reporting stories we don’t think will be reported elsewhere in the state. Most of our reporting is enterprise or investigative in nature, with a heavy lean on data, documents and public records.

We typically publish during the weekday and distribute our stories on our website, via our daily and weekly newsletters, and through the free republication in news outlets throughout the state. In addition to our digital-first print reporting, we’re also growing our capacity to produce audio journalism in the form of long-form audio storytelling, podcasts, and two-way interviews with public and commercial radio.

Our mission-driven editorial strategy is to get as much high-quality, in-depth, independent journalism in front of as many Montanans as possible. By distributing our reporting across multiple platforms and in partnership with media outlets throughout the state, we can reach the broadest audience possible while building our brand and growing our audience.

MTFP has built a strong, recognizable, and trusted brand across traditional, digital, and social media platforms with the reputation and experience of its editor-in-chief serving as the foundation. Strong board governance committed to MTFP’s core mission ensures long-term sustainability by implementing robust policies governing transparency, editorial independence, and fiscal responsibility. Journalistic excellence and integrity are central to our mission.
Montana Free Press is uniquely positioned in the Montana media market thanks to our excellent relationships with news publishers and broadcasters throughout the state. Our stories are widely republished in print newspapers across the state and picked up by our public media partners, Montana Public Radio and Yellowstone Public Radio.

MTFP averaged 59,900 monthly website visitors between January and August 2020. We have 6,000+ Facebook followers, and 6,500+ e-newsletter subscribers. We offer all stories for free republication, and this model has been effective in reaching rural audiences that are devoted to their local daily or weekly newspapers. In 2019, MTFP reached more than 200,000 print readers through republication in 54 of the state’s 83 newspapers, including every major daily.

At a time when Montana’s daily newspapers are furloughing staff and producing less content, MTFP has dramatically increased content and provided stable work for a growing number of talented freelance journalists in the state.

What’s next? We’d will expand our editorial and business teams, grow our board and the communities that it represents, continue to diversity our revenue streams, grow our overall audience, with an emphasis on greater readership from rural communities and those the 18-54 age demographic.