Jane McDonald is a broadcast journalist and a reporter at the Montana Television Network, which is a network of CBS affiliates with local stations in just about every major city in Montana. McDonald graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Journalism and Media Production from the Murrow College of Communication. She was involved with multiple multi-media productions and the Murrow News 8 team before joining MTN news in June 2021.
UM Journalism student Meghan Fatouros interviewed McDonald about her ideas on best practices on social media. What follows in a transcript of their conversation, edited slightly for clarity and brevity.
Q: How do you decide what is beneficial to post and what is not?
A: Digital elements of storytelling have really become a focus for broadcasters. When I’m back at my desk, thinking what would be a good piece for our social media, I try to find something that elevates the story: whether that be background/facts and figures, or an extended interview with a person I talked with.
Q: Has there ever been a moment you chose to delete something or backtrack?
A: There have been several times where I head back to my team and ask for their advice, for instance, the title of an article. I always try to think of journalism from all angles—and if a new angle hits me later on in the day, I reach out to my coworkers and see what they think.
Twenty-five high school students from across the state (and country!) gathered in Missoula this week on the University of Montana Campus to explore journalism and media at the 2022 summer camp sponsored by the University of Montana School of Journalism and Humanities Montana.
Students covered a local baseball game and Out to Lunch in downtown Missoula and produced a mix of photojournalism, audio stories, written articles and even a TikTok video.
You can listen to the audio coverage here and here.
Nearly 150 high school students from as far away as Frazer (465 miles) and as close as Hellgate High (seven blocks) gathered at the University of Montana School of Journalism on April 21 to celebrate the state’s top high school media makers, connect with each other and take workshops with the school’s professors at the annual Montana High School Journalism and Media Day.
The day kicked off with the Montana High School Journalism Awards, given by the School of Journalism and the Montana Journalism Education Association. Bigfork High School’s Elizabeth Hyde was named the Montana High School Journalist of the Year, with MJEA’s Beth Britton and Missoulian publisher Jim Strauss hailing her work and promise as a young journalist.
In the “pacesetter” categories, the Hellgate Lance won for online publications among AA schools and The Norse Code from Bigfork High won for Class B schools. Eagle TV at Big Sky High School took home the broadcast pacesetter award for AA schools and the Norse Code at Bigfork High won the category for B schools.
For newspaper pacesetters, The Hellgate Lance won the AA category, The Signal Butte at Custer County High School won for Class A, The Florence Chronicle at Florence-Carlton High won Class B and the Sagebrush Saga from Garfield County High School won in Class C.
Kendall Boehm of the Florence Chronicle won the Student Free Press Award for coverage of a club that formed to support LGBTQ+ students.
“It is always tricky for student journalists to cover controversial issues in your school, but even more difficult to cover a topic that has exploded into the divisive world of social media beyond the schoolhouse gates,” the judges wrote.
See the full list of awards and photos below.
Photos by Griffin Ziegert.
High School Class
Category
Place
Newspaper/Program
School
Individual Winner (If applicable)
AA
Feature Writing
First
The Hellgate Lance
Hellgate High School
Ali Caudle
C
Feature Writing
First
Sagebrush Saga
Garfield County High School
Abby Pierce
AA
Sports Event Writing
First
Big Sky Sun Journal
Big Sky High School
Hollin Keintz
A
Sports Event Writing
First
Signal Butte
Custer County High School
Miranda Moe
B
Sports Event Writing
First
Florence Chronicle
Florence-Carlton High School
Abigail Binder
C
Sports Event Writing
First
Ennis Mustang Monthly
Ennis High School
Lily Connor
AA
Sports Feature Writing
First
Hellgate Lance
Hellgate High School
Maggie Vann
A
Sports Feature Writing
First
The Norse Code
Bigfork High School
Liz Hyde
C
Sports Feature Writing
First
Sagebrush Saga
Garfield County High School
Abby Pierce
AA
Opinion Writing
First
Hawk Talk
Bozeman High School
Miles Fastnow
C
Opinion Writing
First
Mustang Monthly
Ennis High School
Ruby Blazer
AA
News Writing
First
Hawk Tawk
Bozeman High School
Olivia Bulis
A
News Writing
First
Signal Butte
Custer County High School
Lauren Reinhart
B
News Writing
First
The Howl Newspaper
Shelby High School
Hayden Schilling
C
News Writing
First
The Mustang Monthly
Ennis High School
Ruby Blazer
B
Feature Photography
First
The Norse Code
Bigfork High School
Zoe Sellers
AA
News Photography
First
The Stampede
C.M. Russell High School
Isabel Foley
AA
Sports Photography
First
Sun Journal
Big Sky High School
Kolja Gerstenkorn
AA
Audio
First
The Joust
Hellgate High School
Darian Davalos, Win Duerk and Sierra Meissner
C
Video Newscast
First
Falcon Student News
Twin Bridges High School
Ruby Waller, Sam Konen, Emma Konen and Callie Kaiser
AA
Video: Sports
First
Eagle TV
Big Sky High School
Jacob Gardanier, Cole Campbell, Tre Reed and Dawson Raulston
B
Video: Sports
First
The Norse Code
Bigfork High School
Abby Curtiss
AA
Video: PSA
First
Eagle TV
Big Sky High School
Douglas Lautzenheiser, Gwen Fleming-Campbell and Hollin Keintz
AA
Video: Arts & Entertainment
First
Eagle TV
Big Sky High School
Hollin Keintz, Doug Lautzenheiser and Gwen Fleming-Campbell
