Art Cullen from the family-run, 10-person Storm Lake Times (Iowa) recently won the Pulitzer Prize for editorials. Storm Lake is a twice- weekly paper with a circulation of 3,000- and they don’t mess around.
Writing editorials that “confronted the state’s most powerful agricultural interests, which include the Koch Brothers, Cargill and Monsanto, and their secret funding of the government defense of a big environmental lawsuit” Cullen’s “tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing” were amazing on their own, but when you understand he did it all while functioning as a de facto city editor, part-time reporter, and editorial writer- it’s beyond amazing. It’s impressive. Truely.
Richard Longworth, a retired and important Chicago Tribune reporter said, “Art has attacked local farmers, lawyers, county supervisors, Monsanto, the Koch Brothers, agribusiness and the Republican Party — all icons in northwest Iowa. He called Sen. (Charles) Grassley, an Iowa institution, ‘nothing more than a lapdog for the Republican establishment,’ and the other Iowa senator, Joni Ernst, ‘the only woman as vulgar as Donald Trump.’ Art’s Pulitzer is virtue rewarded. Sometimes the good guys really do win.”
Storm Lake, an 11,000-person town in northwest Iowa, is “immigrant-filled” and love Trump (even though his actions and statements on immigration have been problematic). But Cullen is passionate about the issues and isn’t afraid to talk about how the town’s immigrant workforce has been exploited as cheap labor. Although really, Cullen isn’t afraid to talk about anything.
And isn’t that what a reporter SHOULD be?
Congratulations to Art and the Storm Lake Times.
To read the full interview with Art Cullen, click here.
Source: Poynter
