Montana FOI Coalition honors two FOI “champions” for 2026

Sept. 21, 2026

HELENA – Broadcast journalist Anna Rau of Missoula and Bozeman attorney Kyle Nelson are the Montana Freedom of Information Coalition’s “FOI Champions” of 2026, honored at a ceremony in Helena Sept. 17.

The coalition helps the public and journalists gain access to government records and meetings, as required by the Montana constitution and state laws.

“We usually give one annual FOI Champion award, but Anna and Kyle each made such vital contributions to advancing the public’s right to know in Montana this past year, that we decided to honor them both,” said Mike Dennison, president of the coalition.

Rau was honored for her work reporting on and producing a half-hour show revealing that, for more than a year, Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration suppressed a report showing dangerous levels of chemical contaminations in fish in Montana rivers and lakes.

The administration finally released the report this April – one day before Rau’s show was to air as a segment in Montana PBS’s “Impact” investigative news series.

Nelson led the legal efforts on two major freedom-of-information court victories for the media: Unsealing charging documents this April in a 2025 quadruple-murder case in Anaconda and maintaining public access to legislative bill-drafting information.

Jim Strauss, an FOI Coalition board member, said Friday evening that Nelson’s work not only was critical in those cases, but also generously provided at an affordable rate – at a time when media resources for legal battles are stretched thin.

In the Anaconda murder case, prosecutors, the defense and presiding District Judge Jeffrey DaHood had agreed to seal most of the charging documents against Michael Brown, ignoring objections by the media.

Nelson argued in a court appeal that DaHood and prosecutors had ignored state law, which says the media must be consulted before criminal case records are sealed for allegedly endangering the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

The Montana Supreme Court agreed this spring and DaHood ultimately opened most records in the case.

“The win preserves transparency in a high-profile homicide case and it also prevents a dangerous precedent that would have allowed public officials to keep documents secret,” Montana FOI Coalition board member Keila Szpaller said Thursday in her nomination speech for Nelson.

On the legislative bill-drafting records, Nelson won a victory in state District Court in early 2025 that said materials used to draft legislation must remain open to the public. He has continued to work on the case before the Montana Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on the state’s appeal of the lower-court order.

Rau’s award-winning story revealed that state scientists had prepared a report in 2024, warning anglers not to eat many types of fish caught in several major bodies of water, because of chemical levels far above acceptable safety standards.

The state had been prepared to release the information, to the public and Montana PBS, but Rau unearthed records showing that Gov. Gianforte’s office blocked the release in February 2025.

More than a year later, Gianforte’s office and the governor himself refused to respond to multiple requests from Rau as to why they sat on the report. The day before Rau’s story was to air, on April 23 this year, the administration released the report.

Yet the final version of report backed off on earlier recommendations, Rau reported, using laxer standards that removed most earlier recommendations against eating certain fish.

Rau said Thursday that she often relied on help from the FOI Coalition in preparing information requests that fueled her story.

The coalition’s John Kuglin FOI Champion Award is named after the late former Associated Press Montana bureau chief, who was instrumental in establishing the coalition 38 years ago.

The coalition, formerly the Montana FOI Hotline, provides free legal advice to journalists and the public when they have trouble accessing public documents or public meetings. Montana’s state constitution has one of the strongest right-to-know provisions in the country.

However, Dennison said that right is often under threat, from public officials who choose to ignore it, and requires constant vigilance from the media and the public to ensure that it’s fulfilled.