“Storm Lake” dives into the high-stakes world of local news

Tom Cullen listens to Linda Torres, a Latina caucus leader, while reporting on the Iowa Caucuses in 2020 in a scene from “Storm Lake.” (Photo by Jerry Risius, 2020)

Can a local newspaper overcome the odds to meet the vital needs of a small town?

Next Thursday, Oct. 12, the Rhode Island Press Association presents a showing of Storm Lake, a documentary that dives into the high-stakes world of local news. Storm Lake follows the staff and owner of the Storm Lake Times (now the Storm Lake Times Pilot), as they chronicle the happenings in the tiny city of Storm Lake, Iowa, over the course of two years. The film covers the newspaper’s efforts to keep its reader informed in the face of growing division and overwhelming economic strain, including its early reporting of a COVID-19 outbreak at local meatpacking plants that would eventually make national headlines.

Directed by Beth Levison and Jerry Risius, the film comes at a crucial moment for the future of local reporting. According to Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative, more than a fourth of the country’s newspapers have shuttered since 2005. Between late 2019 and May 2022, more than 360 newspapers were lost amid the challenges of the pandemic. Most communities that lose a newspaper do not get a digital or print replacement, and more than a fifth of Americans live in news deserts — communities with limited access to local news — or places at risk of becoming one.

“When we first came across [editor] Art and the Cullens, we had a hunch that that there was a story to tell about the family and the newspaper, says Levison. “But the more time we spent in Storm Lake, the more we saw a larger story come into focus. In Storm Lake, national themes of immigration, climate change and the impact of big business were playing out on a micro level. And if the newspaper didn’t report on them, who would? We realized that in this small, rural town in America’s heartland, we had a chance to tell a universal story of a family, their newspaper and community— all on the precipice, with our democracy hanging in the balance.”

The Storm Lake Times newsroom. At The Storm Lake Times, five of the ten-person staff are members of the Cullen family. (Photo by Jerry Risius, 2019)

Local newspapers today, including those in Rhode Island, face shrinking subscriber numbers, the erosion of their traditional advertising base and an online media landscape that’s given rise to the expectation of free reporting. Storm Lake chronicles these challenges and others as the family-run newspaper continues to meet the needs of a town of 11,000. It’s not the first time the Storm Lake Times Pilot has catapulted into the national spotlight. In 2017, editor Art Cullen won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials on how corporate agricultural interests held sway over the small city. In 2020, the newspaper was among the first to report on a COVID-19 outbreak at local meatpacking plants that eventually became national news. The film has drawn a wide audience, winning acclaim at film festivals and premiering on PBS as part of the Independent Lens documentary series.

The Rhode Island Press Association (of which Rhode Island Monthly is a member) will present the film at the Gamm Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5 per person and are available online. The film will offer members of the public a behind-the-scenes look at local news reporting and why it remains essential to American democracy. The screening will be followed by a virtual Q&A with members of the production team

“Practicing journalists, news junkies, casual readers, concerned citizens, students, politicians, the general public, anyone who has an interest in what makes a local news outlet special and wants to learn how it is enduring in the changing and challenging information environment of today should see this film,” says Larry Sasso Jr., a former president and current board member of the Rhode Island Press Association.

Watch the trailer for Storm Lake here:

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