FWP AT WORK Tom Palmer, Information Bureau Chief, Helena

KENTON ROWE

MEDIA MANAGER

TOM PALMER

One of the most important parts of my job is work-

ing with the media. We get calls all the time from reporters who are following any number of breaking stories—maybe a poaching incident, a commission meeting, or an orphaned grizzly cub—and are trying to gather good information. So I either respond myself or put them in touch with the best person here in the department to get them the facts they need. It’s extremely rare that I feel a reporter is trying to trap us or play “gotcha.” I worked for years as a journalist myself, and I know that their main goal is to get the story right, and that’s been our goal here at the department. One thing that is different from, say, 20 years ago is social media and the speed at which news travels. Nowadays a reporter will call, conduct an interview, hang up, and immediately post a 140-word Twitter feed. So that makes it doubly important—to them and to FWP— for us to be extremely accurate with the information we provide. There’s really no room for error.

Fortunately, one thing that has remained solid in this department through the 28 years I’ve been here is the knowledge of FWP staff. No matter who calls and what the question is, I always know I’m surrounded by the very best information sources possible.