New Missoulian Newspaper Editor Loves ‘Watchdog Journalism’ [YouTube]
The new editor of the Missoulian newspaper is Matthew Bunk, who comes to Missoula from Libby, where he was most recently the editor and publisher of The Western News.
KGVO News spoke with Bunk late Tuesday afternoon, as he was wrapping up his first full day at the Missoulian.
"I had some friends within the Lee newspapers that had sort of pointed me towards this opportunity, so I just made a call to Mark (publisher Mark Heintzelman), and we got the ball rolling from there," Bunk said. "From beginning to end, the process took about two months."
Bunk, who serves as the current president of the Montana Newspaper Association, is a fan of the Missoulian's tradition of what he calls 'watchdog journalism."
"In this day and age, what's kind of unique about the Missoulian is that for a mid-size or a big daily paper, we're able to do some really aggressive projects, and do some really cool in-depth investigations," he said. "That's really my forte. That's why I got into this business, I love watchdog journalism, and this newspaper does a good job of that, and I just wanted to be a part of it."
One of the reasons I got into this business is that I feel like it's very important to hold people accountable, government leaders accountable to the public that they serve, and that was probably my motivation to at the beginning, and I think is probably part of my main motivation for today," Bunk continued. "It's such a huge, awesome responsibility we have as journalists, and that watchdog aspect of what we do just excites me, and that's why I get out of bed every day."
Bunk said he hopes to introduce new innovations in the Missoulian's online presence in the near future, to bring more of the newspaper's features to internet users.
According to the Associated Press, Bunk succeeds Sherry Devlin, who has served as editor of the Missoulian since 2004. She will remain at the newspaper as associate editor.