35th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Open Conversation: Bring your Ideas!

Whether reporting from the rural West or about the rural West, today’s journalists have a wealth of important stories to share with local and global audiences. We have invited a panel of respected journalists to share their first-hand experiences, challenges and dreams for their field in representing this vast and diverse region. There will be plenty of room for audience participation and conversation in this two-part forum. Meet the panelists: Carson Vaughan, a freelance journalist based in Omaha, Nebraska. Carson writes frequently about the Great Plains, from the environment to the arts and everything in between. Tay Wiles is a correspondent for High Country News, and also freelance for outlets such as The Guardian, KQED Radio and Range podcast. Tay writes about public lands, people and power in the West. Dave Skinner graduated from Montana State in business, not journalism. He is an opinion columnist for Maury Povich's Flathead Beacon weekly newspaper in Montana and a "Wandering Scout" feature writer for Carson City-based RANGE magazine, for Range Magazine, a glossy quarterly focusing on issues and people of the rural American West. Jenni Monet is an independent journalist who writes about Indigenous rights and injustice for such publications as The LA Times, The Guardian, PBS NewsHour, and others. She is a tribal citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna. Jeff Mullins, editor of the Elko Daily Free Press, has worked at the newspaper since 1981. Our host and moderator is Taki Telonidis, former media producer for the Western Folklife Center and current senior radio editor for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Taki will be joined by Lori Gilbert, news director for Elko Broadcasting Company, in this discussion.

Sponsored by Nevada Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with Great Basin College