Native American issues in the state

Montana Free Press

Montana Free Press (MTFP) is a 4-year-old independent, nonprofit digital news site with offices in Helena, Montana, the state capital. MTFP covers statewide news, politics and policy via text stories, data analysis and visualization, and podcasts. MTFP's mission statement is "to bring to light essential news stories by studying arcane bureaucratic processes, seeking out dark corners of major institutions, digging deep into data and documents, and holding those in power accountable to the people." We work independently and in collaboration with other news outlets statewide to produce meaningful news stories that have an impact on the lives and livelihoods of Montanans.

Christopher Aadland

Christopher Aadland covers Native American issues, Covid-19 fallout and the Montana Legislature for the Montana Free Press, an investigative news outlet in Helena, Montana. Aadland spent his first year as a Report for America corps member in Wyoming reporting on the Wind River Reservation for the Casper Star-Tribune. Chris and a colleague won a Wyoming Press Association Pacemaker award for a story they did revealing a dark money lobbying effort by one of the state’s tribes. Chris has also worked at the Wisconsin State Journal, where he covered public safety, city government, breaking news and other subjects. As a student at the University of Minnesota, he was the managing editor of the award-winning, student-run Minnesota Daily and a student reporter for the Twin Cities newspaper, the StarTribune. Chris, whose father is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, started learning the Ojibwe language while at the University of Minnesota and developed a desire to contribute to better, more nuanced coverage of Indian Country as a journalist.