Montana’s public broadcasting services, Montana Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio and MontanaPBS, have joined with The University of Montana School of Journalism to launch an election year website and collaborate on broadcast debates and election programming.
The website, http://montanapublicmedia.org, will archive all the broadcast and online material produced by the partners. It also will provide links to other Web resources.
“The goal is to be a ‘go-to’ site for citizens who want to learn more about the candidates and the races,” said William Marcus, a general manager of MontanaPBS and MTPR.
The partners also plan an ambitious lineup of broadcast debates, candidate profiles and interviews, special documentaries and “Equal Time” and “Ad Watch” segments. The debates will be broadcast live on public radio and TV at 7 p.m. on the following dates:
Monday, Oct. 8: U.S. Senate race.
Wednesday, Oct. 10: Governor race.
MontanaPBS will broadcast fact-checking segments produced by the UM School of Journalism following each debate, and MTPR will provide analysis for radio listeners.
MTPR’s “Campaign Beat” and Jackie Yamanaka’s candidate interviews and call-in programs will be archived on http://montanapublicmedia.org, as will the “Ad Watch” and “Equal Time” segments from MontanaPBS. “Equal Time” allow candidates for Montana’s four government administrative offices: secretary of state, state auditor, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction. It’s an unedited opportunity to answer a set of pertinent questions. “Ad Watch” analyzes campaign advertising.
MontanaPBS will broadcast documentary profiles of the candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and governor. Another MontanaPBS program, “Billing Montanans,” will examine how two Montana families’ tax dollars are apportioned to sectors of local and state government.
The news staffs at MTPR and YPR will produce interviews and call-in programs with candidates as part of their regular news programming.
The coverage will culminate with live election-night reporting, coordinated with PBS NewsHour and NPR coverage, to bring viewers and listeners results from statewide races.
Montana Public Media’s website and special reporting is supported, in part, by a grant from the Greater Montana Foundation.
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