Subject Art Cullen and co-director Beth Levison in attendance at the Sunday, September 19 screening for a post-film discussion with the Winterset Madisonian's own Vicki Minor!
Meet the Cullens - Iowa's most impressive journalism family. For more than 30 years, Art Cullen, brother John, son Tom, wife Delores and sister in law Mary - plus Art's dog, Peach the newshound - have published The Storm Lake Times, a small-town, twice-weekly newspaper that covers critically important local issues and serves as the glue that holds the community together. But, against the backdrop of a collapsing journalism ecosystem and a crushing pandemic, how can the paper avoid the fate of so many other newspapers? In Beth Levison and Jerry Risius's charming yet cautionary documentary, we see the Cullens hard at work, occasionally sniping at each other, as they meet the moment, one deadline at a time. As Art says, "Without strong journalism to tell a community's story, the fabric of the place becomes frayed."