At the Montana Transparency Project, we often write about the legal side of public information: new court cases, changes in statute, or debates about accessing public records. But today, we’re taking a different approach.

We recently spoke with Denise Rivette, an independent reporter from Carbon County, who shared her experiences as someone on the front lines of submitting information requests. Her story illustrates not only how the system has changed in recent years, but also how those changes affect Montanans’ access to public information.

“When I first started out, it was pretty easy talking to different agencies and just getting the information I wanted. And then after [the state] established the Office of Public Information Requests, things really slowed down,” said Denise, who has

See Full Page