Mike Dennison joined MTN News as its chief political reporter in August 2015, after a 23-year career as a newspaper reporter covering Montana politics and state government, focusing on campaigns, the Legislature, health care, energy, the environment, and many other issues important to Montanans.
A lot of folks might think politics are boring – but not if you tell the story with some pizzazz and let people know why it matters!
Mike is looking forward to bringing that style of reporting and story-telling to the web and TV, for MTN’s stations across the state. You’ll be able to follow his work on MTN’s newscasts and websites, on Face The State, and via Twitter and Facebook.
Mike grew up in Seattle but came to Montana at age 20, to attend the University of Montana, not far from where his mom’s family has operated a ranch for more than 120 years, in the Potomac Valley. He graduated from UM with degrees in journalism and English in 1981 and joined the reporting staff of the Great Falls Tribune later that year.
After leaving the Tribune in 1982, he worked the next decade as a wire-service reporter in Helena, Seattle and Grand Junction, Colo., before returning to the Tribune as its Capitol Bureau chief in Helena in 1992.
He joined the Lee Newspapers State Bureau in Helena in 2005, covering politics for Lee’s newspapers in Billings, Missoula, Helena, Butte and Hamilton. Mike couldn’t imagine a better place than Montana to cover the political scene.
Government is wide-open in Montana, its officeholders are easily accessible, the Montana media have a strong tradition of holding politicians accountable, and the state has a rich political history, peppered with intriguing personalities who have influenced both the state and the nation.
Mike has lived in Helena for 31 of the past 33 years. He’s married and has two grown sons.
