People behind The Nugget: Matt Van Slyke

Matt Van Slyke brings years of high-level journalism experience and a passion for storytelling to his role as a freelance reporter for The Nugget.

Photo by Jim Cornelius

Matt Van Slyke has a young family he's raising in Sisters. He brings a deep journalism background to freelance work with The Nugget.

His partner Amanda Kester initially reached out to The Nugget to inquire about freelancing opportunities.

"She knew that I love writing and love being out meeting people," Van Slyke said.

Nugget Editor in Chief Jim Cornelius recognized his professional background and skill-set immediately.

"I didn't know his full background, but I knew he's worked in journalism - and it showed in the way he approached his first stories," he said. "He's got a really good ear and knows what a good story looks and feels like. And he likes to do the kind of stories we like to do, and the ones our readers respond to."

Van Slyke has covered every kind of news story, but he particularly appreciates community and lifestyle stories - which abound in Sisters.

"At this stage in my life, it's positive, community-oriented stuff," he said.

He grew up in Stockton and attended California State University, Chico, in the Central Valley of California. His first gig in journalism was in the newsroom of a CBS affiliate in Sacramento. He was promoted to producer on the lifestyle program "Good Morning Sacramento".

"I helped launch their weekend edition," he said.

Television news careers tend to require relocating.

"I wanted a little more hard news - and I wanted to move to the Pacific Northwest," he recalled.

He moved to Seattle with FOX 13, where he expanded their morning show.

"We just took the whole morning," he said. "I would do an hour or two of it."

He worked at FOX 13 for five years, then did a stint in freelance public relations back in California before joining KTVU 2. Then it was on to the legendary KRON 4, San Francisco's independent TV channel - "the only place to go for 8 pm prime time local news," as Van Slyke describes it.

It was good journalism work - but Van Slyke was growing dissatisfied.

"It was stressful as heck, and I was riding the BART three hours a day," he said. "I didn't want a city-scape for my kids' childhood."

He took a gig as an assistant news director in San Luis Obispo, then headed north again to take a news director position with an ABC affiliate in Yakima, Washington.

The COVID pandemic was a tough time, and when Van Slyke was offered an opportunity to work in PR remotely from home, he took it. Due to family circumstances, he had an opportunity to move to Sisters with Amanda. He remembers reading The Nugget and falling in love with the community.

"I read the paper, and oh, it's a lot of good, positive, uplifting community news," he said ."I want to live there. I thought it would be in retirement, but we got here early."

With young kids of his own, Van Slyke enjoys covering youth sports, and education. He's a skilled photographer and an outgoing personality, so he enjoys crafting photo essays where he engages with folks in the community - some local and some passing through - to craft photo essays.

"Matt really adds a dimension to what we can do - and he certainly did a nice job with our baseball and softball coverage, which was weak last year," Cornelius said. "I really enjoy working with him."

Van Slyke is active in sports and the outdoors.

"I play hockey, I play softball, I coach baseball," he said. "My kids and I are going to go frog hunting in the forest tonight. I just kind of take advantage of everything that's here. I like to be outside. It's just a great life we've carved out here."