By Hannah Tyler
Skylar Rispens is a freelance journalist in Missoula, Montana and now she works with the University of Montana. Before she took a job at UM, Rispens worked at several news organizations as a reporter and writer. Her social media page consists of her photojournalism and stories that she writes.
University of Montana student Hannah Tyler recently interviewed Rispens about best practices on social media and what follows is a transcript of their conversation, edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
Q: What kind of journalism do you do when you write?
A: I am absolutely hooked on any sort of journalism about education. I graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2019 and immediately dove into the local news scene in Montana. I spent the summer of 2019 as a local reporter and photographer for the Seeley Swan Pathfinder (I even helped distribute papers to newsstands around the valley, and mailed them to subscribers who did not live locally). Once that wrapped up, I moved to work as a breaking news reporter at the Great Falls Tribune. It was there that I started picking up education stories from time to time, but once the pandemic hit and we had to move to fully remote work I cut my teeth on pretty much every beat you can think of to support my colleagues and community (I even doubled as a photographer on occasion). After about two years in Great Falls I moved back to Missoula to work as an education reporter for the Missoulian newspaper. For about two years, I covered everything related to education, my editor called it the “diapers to diplomas” beat, but I also wrote on issues around statewide education policy. I was unfortunately laid off from my position at the Missoulian in the spring of 2023. Last fall, I started a job as a reporter with StateScoop and EdScoop, which are publications for a Washington D.C.-based online tech news company, but left that role in June 2024. It’s worth mentioning though that while I was starting that job with Scoop News Group I was simultaneously completely a reporting fellowship through the Education Writers Association for my pitch on what works–and what doesn’t–when it comes to four-day school weeks in Montana (a story idea that had been rattling around in my head since I worked in Great Falls).
Q: What made you want to work for the University of Montana?
A: There were many factors that influenced my decision to work for the University of Montana, but I ultimately decided I needed to leave the full-time journalism industry because I craved a more stable work environment and I wanted a job that would allow me to continue living in the community I love. It wasn’t easy to make the jump to the “dark side,” but I was very familiar with the high-quality writing produced by the UM News Service and figured it would be a great opportunity for me to continue using my journalism skills while learning about an entirely new industry. Plus, I truly believe in the purpose and mission of higher education, so if I can write articles that ignite a passion for a student to further their education at our institution I think that’s a win.
Q: What would you say your target audience is for your writing?
A: My audience at UM ranges. The news articles produced by my team are published through a variety of channels including the UM website and social media, but we also distribute our articles to external media (depending on the article, they could be sent out to local, statewide or regional media lists) in hopes that it will be picked up by those journalists and editors. I also have tried my hand at some creative copywriting for unique social media channels for UM, so it’s been fun as a writer to tap into different voices and tones, which you can’t always do in traditional journalism. For any freelance journalism work I am doing, my audience also ranges. Generally, I would say that I am trying to write for either a local audience (Missoula or western Montana), but have written stories with a statewide audience in mind as well. But I just recently freelanced with a publication out of San Diego, California as a contributing reporter, so I didn’t actually write any copy for the article but I helped gather some information for the reporter.
Q: How has social media has helped (or hurt) your freelance journalism and your news writing for the university?
A: I’ve always been chronically online haha. During journalism school and then my full-time journalism career I cultivated a following of about 2,800 people consisting of folks from all corners of Montana and other education journalists who wanted to be connected to my work and news-sense. That following came in handy when I got laid off from my job with the Missoulian because it connected me to the editors with the Montana Free Press and I’ve written several stories for them in the last 18 months. It’s also what helped me land that freelance assignment with the publication in San Diego strangely enough. I wouldn’t say that social media ever really hurt my journalism career (whether as a full-time employee or freelancer) because I keep most of my channels pretty locked down. I made the decision to have any public-facing accounts focused on my career after some not-so-fun run-ins with crazy people on the internet who just want to harass young women working in journalism. My most active, public-facing professional account is definitely my Twitter. Now that I no longer work in full-time journalism that account is a bit more quiet, but I’ve taken a few more stabs at showcasing my personality there than I previously have.
This Q&A is part of a series created by students in Courtney Cowgill’s Social Media and Audience Engagement course at the University of Montana School of Journalism. Students sought out creatives who are doing social media for good to offer tips and insights into the ever-evolving landscape of social media.
Montana Journalism 