Get featured in Billings Gazette

To get featured in the Billings Gazette, you either give one of its reporters a story worth covering, send a letter to the editor or guest opinion to its opinion pages, or have a feature developed and placed with professional help. Whichever route you take, the story needs a genuine Billings or Montana angle, because that is what the paper's readers come to it for.

Pitching the newsroom yourself is free, but it is slow and the editors decide what runs. DNA offers another way in: we develop the story with you, write it to the Gazette standard, manage the placement, and you approve every word before it goes live.

What the Billings Gazette is

The Billings Gazette is the daily newspaper for Billings, the largest city in Montana, and one of the best-known news brands in the state. It is owned by Lee Enterprises, which publishes local newspapers across the United States, including several others in Montana. Its website carries the daily news alongside the print edition.

What the Billings Gazette covers

The paper covers Billings and Yellowstone County, along with the wider region it serves. That means city and county government, crime and courts, schools, health care and growth in the city. At state level it follows Montana politics and the legislature, energy, agriculture and ranching, and public land and water. Its outdoors coverage reflects a readership that hunts, fishes and spends time in Yellowstone country. It also covers business, sport from high schools to the Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzlies, opinion and obituaries.

How to get featured in the Billings Gazette

For news coverage, identify the reporter who covers your subject, read what they have written recently, and send a short, specific note with the facts and the local reason to care. Bylines on the site make it clear who covers which beat, and the paper lists ways to contact its newsroom. A pitch that names Montana people, places and consequences will travel further than a general press release.

Be realistic about the bar: the newsroom covers what it judges newsworthy for Montana readers, and a company announcement with no local consequence rarely makes the cut.

How to submit a letter to the editor of the Billings Gazette

The Gazette runs letters from readers and guest opinions alongside its own editorials and columnists. Its opinion desk accepts letters to the editor through the route listed on its site, and that page sets out the current requirements, so read it before you send anything. In general terms, a strong letter:

• Responds to something the Gazette has published or to a Montana issue in the news.
• Makes one clear point rather than several.
• Is short, plainly written and free of personal attacks.
• Is signed with your real name and offered to the Gazette alone.

A longer guest opinion follows the same logic but calls for real expertise in, or direct experience of, the subject.

What makes a strong piece for the Billings Gazette

Local relevance is the first test. A rancher on what a change in water rules means for the next season, a physician on access to care in rural eastern Montana, or a Billings employer on hiring in a growing city all fit. Strong pieces carry named people, local detail and good timing. If you are weighing a regional daily like the Gazette against a national title, the guide to tier 1 vs tier 2 publications explains how they differ in reach and purpose.

How the process works

With DNA, the work runs in four steps. We check whether your story has a real Billings or Montana angle and tell you plainly if it does not. You share the substance: what you do, what has changed and why it matters locally. We draft the feature to the Gazette standard and revise it with you. Once you approve every word, we manage the placement and send you the live link.

How long it takes

Expect weeks rather than days. The angle, the drafting, your review and the placement all take time, and a story tied to a legislative session or a local vote needs planning well ahead.