Nicky Ouellet, Local Radio Reporter
Bringing balance to the Flathead Valley
By Galen Koon
Nicky Ouellet held up the microphone, trying not to make a sound as she interviewed Georgia Smies, a water quality specialist working with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She was producing a story for Montana Public Radio about a meeting the tribes held to discuss the imminent dangers of invasive Quagga and Zebra mussels.
With the exception of a TV cameraman who showed up for the last five minutes, Ouellet was the only reporter at the gathering. In fact, she arrived an hour before it even began.
“I just think that tribes are totally underrepresented in the media,” she said. “It’s silly because they have this wealth of knowledge and these approaches to land management and resource management that could be valuable for other groups.”
Ouellet first realized she wished to pursue journalism after two years of teaching a class to students on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota. As the Flathead-area reporter for MTPR, she’s covered the Blackfeet and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes since receiving her graduate degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Montana in 2016.
MTPR is an affiliate of National Public Radio, which Ouellet has heard people describe as an “alt-left organization.” But her work belies the stereotype: She tries to work across the aisle.
In a March 2017 story about the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline, she talked to both protesters and supporters to provide an objective stance on the issue.
“I feel like I’ve been trying harder to track down that kind of story and expose our liberal listenership to a lot of different points of view,” she said.
This includes giving political candidates equal consideration, for example when covering the special election campaign for the Montana seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Every time MTPR aired a story on Democratic candidate Rob Quist, it would follow up with a piece about Republican contender Greg Gianforte the next day.
“We try and be pretty balanced with it,” Ouellet said.
In her effort to understand the various perspectives held by people in the Flathead valley, she regularly attends meetings of the local Act for America chapter, a right-leaning national security group. She says she’s often the only reporter there, which doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I’m there to listen, and I’m really curious what people are saying, and I think that’s respected.”
Her approach has won the appreciation of the Campaign Against Violence, a Whitefish community group that speaks out against bullying and white supremacists.
“She represents us very well,” Joan Vetter Ehrenberg, the co-chair of the non-profit, said. “She’s thoughtful, thorough, asks questions on point and understands the issues of the day.”
In an era where journalism is under fire and many Americans have lost faith in the media, Ouellet is dedicated to providing Montanans with a voice they can trust.
