Small town newspapers used to be the norm around my neck of the woods. Many of them were rather profitable since they as they served communities that were eager to know more about what was going on in their neighborhood and with their neighbors. The non-daily papers addressed local concerns that wouldn’t get covered on a 24-7 national news channels or even the local TV news such as city government issues, rezoning efforts for properties, the next big town event, rec league basketball scores and what’s being served for school lunch. In my area, these newspapers began to disappear as the large Raleigh News & Observer bought them up and decided to make them “regional inserts” instead of independent news gathering operations. The local advertisers weren’t so hot on the concept since the prices went up. N&O didn’t assign too many resources to them. When the N&O was bought up by a large chain, they slashed staff as ways to cut cost and service the debt. They made even the shell of the small newspapers vanish. The Raleigh coverage got cut back as the paper “shared” a newsroom with the Charlotte and Durham papers that were owned by the chain. The N&O lost its local flavor and power.
Storm Lake is a documentary about a small town paper that cares about its local flavor. The Storm Lake News is published twice a week with 3,000 issues printed each time. Storm Lake has a population of a little over 10,000 people and 3,466 households. There’s no TV station in the town. You have to turn your antenna to get the news out of Sioux City that’s almost 60 miles west. If it wasn’t for the newspaper, the locals would only know what’s going on in their area from gossip at the barber shop.
John Cullen started the newspaper in 1990 and his brother Art returned from working at larger newspapers to help out at the family business. The Storm Lake News is a family affair. Art’s son Tom Cullen reports all the local action. Art’s wife Dolores enjoys doing the happy stories such as when a Tyson foods employee advances in a singing competition or parades. There’s a few other relatives that contribute to the content. The newspaper isn’t a massive profit machine. John Cullen points out that some years they make a few thousands dollars after all the bills and salaries are paid. They’re not going to get a $250 million sale like the Daniels family racked in when the Raleigh News and Observer was bought in 1995 by the big chain. This is a shoestring operation that the family enjoys doing to keep the people of Storm Lake informed about the local doings. They have a passion for making this the best paper for their community and not just a stepping stone to landing a bigger gig in a major city like Sioux City.
Sometime you don’t have to go to a major paper to receive attention. Art Cullen won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for editorials. Think about how many massive newspapers battle for that honor and a small town guy grabs the glory. That’s headline worthy.
The documentary illustrates the struggle of keeping the News publishing fresh editions. Art mentions there’s more than 300 towns with populations over 20,000 people that lack a local news source. Small papers can’t afford to stay in business. The paper has cut back on simple things like making their TV Guide cover less channels to save pages printed. One of the big budget issues is the small mom & pop stores or even regional chains are also fading away. The big stores don’t advertise in small papers anymore. In Iowa, the family farmers are also gone. They’ve been replaced by huge agribusinesses that aren’t going to be tempted by an ad for pig feed in a newspaper. Tyson is the major employer in Storm Lake.
Even though the town is small, there’s a large immigrant population working at Tyson’s pork and turkey meat processing plants and a few other large agriculture based businesses in the area. Some of the residents are documented while others aren’t. One of the stories the paper covered nearly 20 years ago was a small kid who was teaching his fellow Spanish speaking classmates English. The issue after the profile piece featured a story about how the child and his family were deported to Mexico after a raid on the plant. The paper didn’t forget the kid as they did a piece 20 years later about what his life is like back in Mexico. Do you think your city’s paper cares to keep up with anyone that isn’t an elected leader or major entertainer? During the film, the paper talks with a local Spanish language newspaper about cooperating so that their stories can reach people who can’t read English.
Storm Lake can be viewed as two things. It’s either a look at a bygone era of the small town newspaper or a blue print on how newspapers need play a role in people’s lives in the face of cable news and internet resources. Art Cullen’s mindset is if it didn’t happen in their county, it’ snot news for them. They need to provide the information that isn’t going to be found on the AP Wire.
Director Jerry Risius, Beth Levison and their crew follow the various Cullens and other Storm Lake reporters during the right time in Iowa. It’s the presidential primaries season so they have access to the various democratic candidates that come to town seeking to get their message out on the front page if possible. They also capture the Iowa Pork Producers Pork Queen Abby Bean visiting a school. There’s something about a queen who can unite Pork and Beans.
The film is also extremely educational as not only does Art Cullen explain the Iowa Caucus process, but we’re taken inside a few of the caucuses to see how people cluster up and vote. It’s not as quick or easy as just casting a ballot at a normal primary. What is viability? It’s kinda answered here. Although judging by how things got messed up in 2020, this whole process might be changed.
The film ends with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdowns cause the community to suffer. The main businesses that advertise are small mom and pop stores in downtown that aren’t open. So they aren’t needing to take out advertising. The paper has to set up an online charity to keep up their operating budget. The Cullens keep up reporting what’s happening including massive outbreaks at the Tyson plant that the state and food giant aren’t really happy to discuss. The Storm Lake News wants to let the community know what’s happening. As someone who has worked at small publications, Storm Lake is a must watch to see what it takes to survive in this era and why newspapers are still important even in this internet age.
Storm Lake‘s screening at Full Frame marked its World Premiere. In the coming weeks the movie will screen at the Provincetown Film Festival, Doc Edge in New Zealand and AFI DOCS Film Festival.
