The Leader begins 2026 with a more youthful appearance, thanks to reporters Emily Messer and Max Dupras. The two newcomers – both graduates of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism – bring fresh ideas and infectious enthusiasm to their chosen profession.

Emily, a Missouri native with rural roots, joined us in July, and since then has become a regular fixture at town council meetings in St. Ignatius and city commission meetings in Polson. She’s dipped her pen into irrigation issues, covering major rehabilitation projects on the Jocko Canal and, for this week’s paper, the tucked away and little-known Crow Creek pumping station.

Emily has also written about pending highway projects, the nuances of school budgets, the conundrum rural fire districts face in trying to update aging equipment, and the nuisance of invasive bullfrogs.

On the human-interest side, she profiled a couple in St. Ignatius who offer a haven for blind horses, interviewed 99-year-old veteran Jim Sivelle, who was on the scene in Tokyo when Japan surrendered at the close of World War II, and wrote about the renaissance of Dixon, fueled by its famous melon harvest.

She’s also our social media wizard, and her consistent posts on Facebook and Instagram have helped boost our readership on those platforms by an amazing 155% this year.

Leader readers may remember Max, who was our summer intern in 2023. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree, serving as sports editor for UM’s Montana Kaimin his senior year. He’s since covered sports and news for multiple publications, including the Rapid City Journal and NonStop Local News.

Max is a lifelong Montana resident, who grew up watching the Griz and is passionate about all species of sports. At the Leader, he’ll not only focus on who wins and who doesn’t, but also tell the stories behind the games in a county that boasts six high schools, ranging from Class A to Class C, with at least two sports per season.

In short, Emily and Max are telling the stories that matter, that keep us informed and connected to our communities.

Their dedication to newspaper reporting is inspiring – especially in an era when the advertising income and subscription revenue that allow us to do what we do have dwindled. More and more people have turned their focus from newsprint to social media and the headlines flickering across their cell phone screens for information about the world we live in.

Also impressive is that both Max and Emily are members of Gen Z, an age group that’s notoriously disinterested in newspapers. In fact, an estimated 50% of adults under 30 regularly turn to social media as their primary news source.

They’ve also learned their craft in an era when journalists have been regularly denigrated as producers of “Fake News” by the President of the United States, especially when they tell a story that’s at odds with his version of truth.

I guarantee you, Emily and Max (like me, and our other old-school reporter, Berl Tiskus) aren’t in the business of disseminating untruths. Sure, we sometimes make mistakes because we’re humans (thankfully, not AI). And when we do, we fess up to them and publish a correction.

We try to confine our opinions to the Opinion page, and news to the other pages. And, despite the headwinds facing our industry, we still believe that local news matters and that reporters play an important role in nurturing democracy.

Lake County is blessed with two local newspapers and a radio station that are all deeply invested in the community where we live and work. But so-called “news deserts,” defined as counties with one or no local news outlet, are expanding. Between 2004 and 2019, Montana lost 6% of its local news outlets, and those that survived weathered a 26% decrease in circulation (https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/states/montana/).

On a national level, 136 newspapers closed in the last year alone – many of them smaller, independent publications. According to  Medill’s 2025 State of Local News report, the country has lost nearly 3,500 newspapers and more than 270,000 newspaper jobs over the past two decades (localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu).

Then what? Who shows up at city council and county commission meetings, tracks elections, covers student athletes and leaders, and profiles beloved community icons when we don’t?

Emily and Max are part of a long and honorable profession, and may they – with their zest for storytelling, commitment to truthtelling, and digital acumen – ensure that journalism remains relevant to the next generation, and that local newspapers continue to find their way into our homes for a long time to come.

    Reporter Emily Messer
  

    Sports reporter Max Dupras