Opinion | By Steven Bullcoming Haworth | October 13, 2026
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how difficult it can be to find the news when public notices, official records, and important decisions are scattered across websites, social media, emails, and conversations. At the time, I thought I was describing one of the hardest parts of reporting.
Now I think I was describing part of the reason Truth in Focus needs to exist. The purpose is to give people a voice and make difficult public information understandable, not to tell them what they must believe or how to vote. We welcome community perspectives and clearly labeled opinions, including perspectives we may disagree with, while using an editorial review process to check supporting claims, protect people, and distinguish evidence from interpretation.
After talking with people in our communities, I’ve come to see that the problem isn’t always a lack of information. Sometimes the information exists, but the people who need it cannot easily find it, read it, understand where it came from, or tell whether it is accurate. In a small rural community, that matters. What happens in a school, a government office, a utility district, or a meeting room can affect families who may never see the original document.
From advocacy to reporting
Corry Bullcoming Haworth and I talked for a long time about building projects that could help people. Advocacy, education, technology, and community resources were all part of the idea. Truth in Focus grew from those conversations, but the more I researched and listened, the clearer another need became: independent, locally focused news that people can access without having to join a social platform or pay to read it.
I have a Master of Public Administration and a background in computer networking, education, community advocacy, and technology. I’ve spent a great deal of time building the websites, organizing records, writing, and developing practical tools. This has been a grassroots, self-funded effort. We have kept expenses low by doing much of the work ourselves rather than building the whole thing around paid services.
Those technical choices are not the whole story. The point is what the technology makes possible: free-to-read articles, read-aloud options for people who prefer listening or have trouble reading, weather and public-service information, and a Record Room intended to let readers examine source documents for themselves.
What the conversations changed
I’ve heard from people who want straightforward election instructions, from people concerned about public decisions, and from people with stories about education, costs, services, and everyday life in Eastern Montana. The conversations haven’t all been comfortable. Sometimes the records challenge what someone believes. Sometimes I have to revise my own understanding. That’s part of why a newsroom must separate reporting from opinion and be willing to say, “We don’t know yet.”
Reader numbers can be useful because they show which subjects people are looking for. But numbers do not replace trust. An article with fewer views can still answer a question that matters deeply to one family. And an unanswered inquiry is not proof that anyone has done something wrong: it is a reason to keep asking, document the outreach, and update the story when an answer arrives.
What comes next
We’re building Truth in Focus as a practical public-information home for Ashland, Lame Deer, Busby, Forsyth, Colstrip, Broadus, and surrounding communities. Alongside original reporting and records-based investigations, we want useful local weather, community notices, an Evening Brief, a Daily Ten roundup, education coverage, and lighter features that give people a reason to come back. The goal isn’t to copy other organizations’ reporting. It’s to connect readers to reliable sources, add verified local context, and clearly distinguish outside reporting from our own.
When we report on Northern Cheyenne government, we recognize the sovereignty of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and the difference between modern constitutional institutions and traditional or sacred matters. We can examine public governmental records and seek appropriate responses without pretending to speak for the Tribe or treating sacred traditional leadership as another political interview opportunity. The Indian Reorganization Act era and the relationship between written governmental structures and traditional governance deserve serious examination. When two resolutions appear to conflict, we should show readers the wording and trace what was amended, repealed, or left in force rather than offering a quick verdict.
It’s still a small operation. We’re learning as we go, correcting mistakes, improving tools, and trying not to promise more than we can actually maintain. Truth in Focus is not here to become the loudest voice in the room. I’d rather it become a place where readers can find what is known, see what remains in question, and understand why it matters.
That’s the direction I’ve figured out after listening to people. And that’s what we’re building, one document, one conversation, and one useful page at a time.
— Steven Bullcoming Haworth
On the Record | Truth in Focus
Editor’s label: This is the publisher’s opinion and firsthand account of the publication’s development, not a reported news investigation.