Our cover story involves the issue of “parachute journalism,” of which Montana has been a recent target, thanks to the Freemen in Garfield County, the Unabomber in Lincoln, and now, the odious crimes allegedly committed by one Nathaniel Bar-Jonah. In its worst form, parachute journalism involves glib, unthinking, dishonest reporting on a sensational news story. Kim Skornogoski, ace crime reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, writes bemusedly and with a mixture of outrage and resignation at the foibles of “journalists” from afar.

It’s doubtful many Afghanis would level the same criticism at Gwen Florio’s sensitive, uncliched view of their world, gleaned from reporting trips for the Denver Post. In her piece, Gwen adds an extra measure of humor to her account of the reporting challenges she faced. Having won her editors’ attention with her excellent reporting from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, Gwen, aka DangerGirl, next found herself in Israel. We wish her the best in all her travels.

It was of course the tragic events of Sept. 11 that landed Gwen in such hot spots. 9/11’s impact continues to reverberate in all our lives, as several stories in this issue attest. Coverage of religion in news media has increased, reports John Hafner. As Americans took stock of their lives after that defining moment, many made religion a more central part of their lives. Islam and its relationship to the West became a focus of concern, from benign curiosity to religious hatred. All became grist for the journalistic mill.

Even as Sept. 11 boosted coverage of religion, it buried virtually all news of “hanging chads,” butterfly ballots and the ephemera of a presidential election on which our attention had once been riveted. But the story of the news consortium that looked into the ballot mess and how it dealt with 9/11 is still worth telling, as Laura Parvey discovered. Another undercovered story, reported by Courtney Lowery, was the traumatic effect that reporting on horrific events, be they New York City or Columbine High School, has on reporters and photographers. Journalists’ hearts, too, need time to heal, says Courtney.

Sometimes, as newsman/poet David Tucker describes so eloquently in his poem on page 58, news is “stationed around the horizon, ready as summer clouds to thunder.” And sometimes, it pours down. Right here in Missoula, the arson of a lesbian couple’s home aroused the community’s wrath, but the Missoulian’s reporting that the women were possible suspects brought down a hail of criticism on the newspaper, as Paul Queneau reports. In Salt Lake City, the proper metaphor would be snow, as in Olympics, covered superbly for the Missoulian by Rial Cummings and reprised by him in a behind-the scenes look at the quadrennial spectacle.

Near Helena, the death of Montana’s young House majority leader in the crash of an SUV driven by his best friend, Gov. Judy Martz’ top aide, led to a storm over public access to investigative documents, as your editor relates. In San Francisco, a different death — that of the dot.com newspaper, The Industry Standard — set off its own deluge of frenzied reporters. Its editor, Jonathan Weber, who has spent the past semester here as T. Anthony Pollner Visiting Professor, writes about the undelicious irony of becoming a media target. And, as all reporters know, news can be found in a calm, windless day, in the absence of expected developments. Sanjay Talwani describes the non-arrival of digital television in Montana, despite an FCC deadline, and how technology is way ahead of demand.

Finally, we have an excellent group of profiles, from a young Hutterite woman who explains her colony in a bi-weekly column, interviewed by Samantha Sharp, to Edward R. Murrow as mentor to long-time CBS correspondent Bob Pierpoint. Sue Ellison tells the case of Vanessa Leggett, the Houston freelancer who spent a record six months in prison for defying a subpoena. Dan D’Ambrosio profiles Jodi Rave Lee, the first Native American affairs reporter for Lee Newspapers (no relation). Annie Siess tells the naked truth about J-School graduate Aline Mosby in Hollywood. And last but not least, one-room schools in Montana are photographically portrayed in our traditional center spread by photojournalism TA Oona Palmer. Enjoy!