Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The co-owner of a small-town Iowa newspaper who took on powerful agricultural groups for allowing nitrogen runoff to pollute lakes and streams and wrote that the state "has the dirtiest surface water in America," won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing on Monday.

Art Cullen's editorials in the Storm Lake Times helped unveil hidden corporate donors behind a major lawsuit over nitrate pollution in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, which supply drinking water to Des Moines and surrounding areas.

This work earned Cullen and his 3,000-circulation paper a coveted 

 Monday, "for editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa." 

 of Cullen's editorials that earned him the award: 


"I don't know what it means," Cullen told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about winning the prestigious award. "It feels good because it vindicates our position which sought the release of public records" relating to the polluting of the Raccoon River and Des Moines River.

The 10-person newsroom is a family operation that includes Cullen's brother, wife and son.

What's it like running a community newspaper? "It is the most fun you can have with your clothes on," Cullen told Wurzer.

https://twitter.com/IowaWatch/status/851527902030069761

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

For the full interview with Cullen and Wurzer use the audio player above.

Social Issues

Shows

Morning Edition

Cathy Wurzer

Author

MPR News Staff

Art Cullen's editorials challenged powerful agricultural interests for their role in polluting Iowa's water.

This year's Pulitzer Prizes have been announced and one of the winners is Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times in Storm Lake, Iowa. That's a publication which comes out twice a week and has a circulation of 3,000. The Pulitzer committee wrote that he won "for editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa." Cullen, who earned a degree in journalism from the University of St. Thomas, spoke with MPR's Cathy Wurzer.

Family-run Iowa newspaper takes on Big Ag, wins a Pulitzer

Go Deeper.

Like this?