Journalism

Learn by Doing

Upper-division students can participate in capstone reporting programs that offer real-world experience, build portfolios and teach valuable professional skills. These projects produce top-notch coverage in online, print, video, audio and photo. They win Emmy awards, Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence honors, Hearst Collegiate Journalism Awards, and many more. 

Native News

Every year photojournalists and writers fan out across Montana to report on a single topic from the seven reservations and other Indigenous communities in our state. The project is published statewide in newspapers and as a multimedia website.

Check out this last year's reporting

Montana Kaimin

Two year's running this is SPJ's best college newspaper in the PNW

Older than the school itself, the Montana Kaimin is the independent student newspaper at UM. Publishing a weekly print edition, daily digital content, an award-winning podcast and short- and long-form documentaries, the students at the Kaimin do it all. As a student here you can get involved at the paper and get your work published.

Check out the latest from the Kaimin

Made in Montana

Winner of the 2025 and 2024 Best Television Newsmagazine in the nation from the Society of Professional Journalists

Made in Montana is a documentary produced by our Intermediate Videography class and profiles businesses in Montana. The program airs on Montana PBS and has been going strong for 30 years.

Watch Made in Montana at PBS

Advanced Audio

Every spring, students in Advanced Audio produce long-form audio stories that run on the radio or in podcasts throughout the region. You can listen to some 100 pieces students produced in recent years at PRX, where public radio stations and other can license and run them on their local stations.

Advanced Audio reporting at PRX.org

See The World!

Every year students travel abroad to report on different topics

This past summer, 12 students traveled throughout Scotland as part of our International Reporting trip. The students learned how to report in a foreign country and cover complex healthcare issues in an effective way. 

Next up in 2026? NEPAL!

Read their reporting from Scotland

KBGA: Student Radio

At KBGA college radio, students get the chance to do everything from manage the station to DJ to direct the news to report and produce the news. It's a vibrant place for journalism students to get to know audio storytelling and the power of local radio.

Visit KBGA College Radio

Byline Magazine

Byline Magazine is reported, written, photographed, designed and produced each year entirely by University of Montana School of Journalism students and distributed across Montana and the country. 

Students cover big stories in depth on topics from the pandemic to the prison system to the #metoo movement. 

See their most recent work on the Byline Magazine website.

The Student Documentary Unit

The student doc team conceives, researches, reports, photographs and edits a one-hour television documentary for MontanaPBS and other statewide outlets. Past projects have won multiple awards. One recent doc project, "Aging Out: Autism in Montana" explores the issue of how care changes after adolescence for people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. That doc was one of five finalists (out of 4,000 Mark of Excellence entries) in the Society of Professional Journalists MOEy Awards. In 2018, the documentary team dug into the issue of overcrowding in Montana jails. "Montana Jails, Slammed for Solutions" aired on Montana PBS.

The Legislative News Service

This class sends three students to the state Capitol to cover the biennial Montana Legislature for more than 200 broadcast, print and online news publications across the state. Students provide crucial daily coverage from the statehouse and gain valuable experience reporting on complex policy.