{"id":3282,"date":"2014-11-24T22:59:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T04:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mjr.jour.umt.edu\/?p=3282"},"modified":"2015-11-24T21:10:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T03:10:15","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mjr.jour.umt.edu\/the-other-side-of-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"About Face: The Other Side of the Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by Alexander Deedy, photos by Elliott Natz<\/em><\/p>\n

There were teepees as far as Kathy Weber could see in every direction. Riding next to John Lewis, her boss, in the parade at the annual Crow Fair, a tribal elder was shouting in the Crow language. Weber didn\u2019t understand what he was saying, but she could see the reactions in people\u2019s faces. She felt a connection between a leader and his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cVote for John Lewis. He is a friend of Indian country,\u201d someone translated for her. At that moment, she thought: \u201cWe might just win this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election day showed otherwise. Lewis, the 2014 Democratic candidate for Montana\u2019s lone seat in the U.S. House, lost to Republican Ryan Zinke.<\/p>\n

But it was a good story, and the woman telling it is a pro.<\/p>\n

During her 10 years as a TV news reporter, producer, and anchor, Weber told stories to illustrate how real people were affected by policy.<\/p>\n

Later when she worked for Montana Sen. Max Baucus, those stories helped her evaluate whether legislation was people- friendly.<\/p>\n

As senior campaign adviser and communications director for John Lewis, the 2014 Democratic candidate for Montana\u2019s lone seat in the U.S. House, she crafted a narrative to plug her candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn journalism, you learn from day one that no story is complete without real people,\u201d Weber said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lesson that\u2019s served her well on both sides of the journalistic-political divide.<\/p>\n

\"Kathy<\/a>
Kathy Weber escorts Democratic United States Congress candidate, John Lewis, through the back door of Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, Mont., in order to avoid the press. Lewis was at the country club to debate Republican US Congress candidate, Ryan Zinke.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weber was born in a garage in the Bitterroot Valley, delivered by a neighboring rancher. Her parents watched the news religiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really figured you have to know what\u2019s going on so you can be a part of a solution or something,\u201d said her father Gerard Weber.<\/p>\n

In a tug between trying to understand the U.S. system and wanting to tell stories, Weber decided to double-major in journalism and political science at the University of Montana.<\/p>\n

Later, as a cops-and-courts reporter for KPAX in Missoula, she\u2019d watch people on what was perhaps the worst day of their lives, with a camera in her hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see someone one day, it\u2019s their fourth DUI, a couple months later it\u2019s their 10th DUI. And you start to wonder as a journalist, what am I doing, am I making a difference? Does anyone even care?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question lingered until the day Weber reported on an unknown victim of a serial killer. Soon after the story was posted online, the sheriff\u2019s office received a call from the victim\u2019s brother. He never knew what happened to his sister who had disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat family to me was one reason why journalists are so important,\u201d Weber said. \u201cThey help people know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in 2010, when she was an anchor in Billings, she received a call from Sen. Baucus\u2019 office. She expected a routine news check-up, but when they sat down for coffee, it became clear they were offering her a job. u<\/p>\n

She went home, told her husband, and cried.<\/p>\n

Joe Bates, her husband, didn\u2019t have much work in his job as a builder, so the pay raise was a positive. Plus, her role as an anchor kept her from seeing her children in the evenings.<\/p>\n

She took the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think of myself as a journalist. I never got tired of journalism and I don\u2019t think I ever will, \u2018cause I believe it\u2019s important. I really enjoy working with reporters every day. When I left the news business, it wasn\u2019t because I was trying to escape, it was because I was recruited by Sen. Baucus\u2019 office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber sounded ready to explain the move.<\/p>\n

After all, she wasn\u2019t the first journalist to shift to advocacy and PR, and won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

\"Weber<\/a>
As Zinke takes his turn answering a question on screen, Weber turns to her staff in the war room to clarify a statement Zinke made. Her team of fact checkers, live tweeters, and researchers work to ensure Lewis is perceived positively by the public during each debate, by monitoring social media and news outlets and updating their own Twitter page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kyle Schmauch, grassroots coordinator for Steve Daines\u2019 senatorial campaign, wanted to make sure the cameras had the best lighting possible on primary night.<\/p>\n

When the news cameras arrived, Schmauch took a moment to peer through the lens. He knew lighting would make the difference between the candidate looking flat on screen or appearing natural.<\/p>\n

Since high school, Schmauch had been chasing both politics and journalism. Just like Weber, he graduated from the University of Montana with degrees in journalism and political science.<\/p>\n

After interning in New York City for \u201cThe Five,\u201d a talk show on Fox News, he figured he could get a job with Fox post-graduation.<\/p>\n

But that would require embarking on a 10-or-15- year climb up the corporate ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that I could have a bit more of a direct impact by working on the political side for the actual people who are making the decisions, where the actual policies are being discussed,\u201d Schmauch said.<\/p>\n

He says his journalism background keeps him from promoting something he doesn\u2019t agree with, just because it might highlight the candidate. At the same time, he knows first-hand that journalists are always seeking more information, whereas political candidates do their best to stay on message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no benefit whatsoever in being too open, because at the end of the day all that can do is hurt you, most of the time,\u201d Schmauch said.<\/p>\n

From his perspective, political spokespeople don\u2019t intend to mislead, but are merely working toward a goal: Trying to get their candidate elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to the \u2018dark side,\u2019 working on communications or politics, that kind of thing, isn\u2019t as much of a \u2018dark side,\u2019 I think, as reporters make it out to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, Kathy Weber cites an old adage that has the politician wake up and run as fast as he can away from the journalist, \u201cand the journalist wakes up and runs as fast as he or she can to trip the politician.<\/p>\n

That method, she said, isn\u2019t the way to earn public trust. She prefers the old- fashioned method: Taking reporters\u2019 tough questions head on.<\/p>\n

Veteran political reporter Chuck Johnson, of Lee Enterprises, spent a day on the Flathead Indian Reservation with John Lewis and Kathy Weber, working on a profile of the House candidate.<\/p>\n

At one point during the day, Johnson asked Lewis about his wife Melissa\u2019s work as a lobbyist in Helena. Lewis, Johnson said, was fine answering the question.<\/p>\n

Weber was a little more hesitent.<\/p>\n

Johnson recalls her saying something along the lines of \u201cI sure hope that isn\u2019t going to be a big part of your story. And I was like\u2014 \u2018well I had decided early on it was probably a separate story,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, her job is to protect her candidate and my job is to try to tell what\u2019s going on. And I understand that, and she does, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson says back when Weber worked for Baucus, he\u2019d receive three to four press releases a day from the senator\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

However, pursuing a story outside the press releases that was negative could prove a struggle, which is true with most political offices, Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir job is to get you info when you need it, and if they think you\u2019re barking up the wrong tree they\u2019ll tell ya, and that\u2019s just part of the give and take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"As<\/a>
As she escorts Lewis away from the debate, Weber pauses to answer a reporter from the Missoula Independent. Because of her past experience as a reporter, Weber says she tries to stay in contact with reporters and often gives them face time before, during, and after public events.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weber says she believes strongly in the importance of journalists taking an unbiased stance. She knows the opposition is going to get media attention too, and she\u2019s OK with that, as long as her candidate is treated fairly.<\/p>\n

She says she expects hard questions, but when she thinks a reporter got it wrong she has no problem saying so, and will provide evidence to back it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m living and breathing the critical importance of fact checking and sourcing \u2014getting independent verification of sources,\u201d Weber said.<\/p>\n

Questioning whether things work, or don\u2019t work, and why, is key in forming legislation that can last for generations, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in service, that we\u2019re all in this together, and there\u2019s a lot of different ways to tell stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The truth, Weber figures, will come out in the end. So she prefers to not dodge reporters and she expects the tough questions\u2014she used to be the one asking them.<\/p>\n

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