YPR airs Montana House race debate

Some media consolidations are underway in Montana. Lee newspapers and the Great Falls Tribune are under fire for merging editorial boards, restricting access to online content, biased coverage, and sacking employees.

Recently, a public media consortium comprised of colleges has coalesced into a community:

Montana Public Media is a collaboration between Yellowstone Public Radio, MontanaPBS, Montana Public Radio, and The University of Montana School of Journalism. Using multi-media technology, this partnership will provide daily news reporting along with in-depth documentary coverage of Montana politics. The newsroom staffs from Montana Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio, the documentary producers of MontanaPBS as well as student reporters from The University of Montana School of Journalism contribute reporting to the project.

Last evening, with moderators Jackie Yamanaka of YPR and Mike Dennison from Lee Newspapers of Montana, YPR carried live the debate between the US House candidates Democrat Kim Gillan and earth hater Steve Daines; the Libertarian contender was not invited.

In a nutshell: State Senator Gillan focused on her empathy for most things great and small as a woman legislator while Daines repeatedly recited his hatred for all things Obama and gubmint.

This interested party listened to the last half while attending a futbol match at Sioux Park in Rapid City (The Machine won 2-1, a Kurtz woman part of the winning club). The free version of Nobex Radio Companion loaded onto my BlackBerry provides streaming for my public radio addiction: my Verizon bill would feed a village.

Lee reporter, Chuck Johnson penned the Billings Gazette's piece: the video is archived here; and, the AP compiled the report for the Helena Independent Record.