Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Left, Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake (Iowa) Times, and “Storm Lake” co-director Beth Levison participated via Zoom in a question-and-answer session moderated by, at right, Sue Collins, associate professor of communication, culture and media at Michigan Technological University. The Q&A followed a screening of “Storm Lake” at the 41 North Film Festival at the Rozsa Center. The film follows the Pulitzer Prize-winning Cullen and his staff as they operate a small-town newspaper during the 2020 primary season and the early days of the pandemic.

HOUGHTON — A Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of a small-town Iowa paper and the co-director of the film about it answered questions following a screening of the film at part of the 41 North Film Festival at Michigan Technological University Friday.

Cullen won the Pulitzer in 2017 for a series of editorials exposing the dark money sources that gave more than $1 million towards the legal defense for three counties being sued over river pollution. His Pulitzer caught the attention of “Storm Lake” co-director Jerry Risius, who hails from another small Iowa town about two hours north. Risius reached out to Levison, who works with him at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City.

They started filming the Times staff at an Iowa Farmers Union forum for presidential candidates in 2019 and continued through late 2020.

The film captures scenes of the staff interacting with presidential hopefuls, but also feature stories on a worker at the local Tyson plant who performed in a Spanish-language singing competition. The plant returns to the film during the COVID era, when it becomes one of the early hotspots of the pandemic.

Cullen’s editorials also show support for the town’s growing Latino population, also subject of many of the paper’s stories. In one article, they speak with a now-adult in Mexico who had lived in Storm Lake and tutored fellow elementary-school classmates before being deported.

“We had a really amazing experience making this film,” Levison said. “I think there are parts of the country where partisanship really was ever-present, perhaps, or more divisive, but in some ways, I think it’s really a success story. I mean, I think that people really do live together.”

The Storm Lake Times is family-owned and operated. Cullen’s brother, John, founded the paper and serves as publisher. His wife, Dolores, is photographer. His son, Tom, is one of the reporters.

Cullen said independent news organizations are essential to strong communities. He contrasted local ownership with companies like Ogden Publishing, a West Virginia-based company which owns the Gazette and several other Upper Peninsula papers.

“They operate newspapers in Iowa, and they’re just another chain,” he said. “We’ve seen a big increase in chain ownership since the 1980s, and it’s been nothing but heartache … chain ownership is not a solution to community journalism. Local ownership is the solution.”

After COVID-19 battered the Times’s advertising revenue, the paper launched a Gofundme page to help stay afloat. As of Sunday, it has raised nearly $30,000. They also entered into an agreement with several other family-owned papers, including the Spanish-language La Prensa.

Cullen sees hope for alternatives to corporate ownership through examples like the Salt Lake Tribune, which became the first metro paper in the U.S. to transition to nonprofit status.

The paper’s put an increased focus on its website. Cullen hopes the money he’s raised can also help the paper transition to a digital future.

“I’m flying to Denver tomorrow with a film, and I don’t see anybody in the airport or the motel under 80 reading a printed newspaper,” he said. “So it’s just imperative that we make this transition.”

The film had a screening in September at Storm Lake’s movie theater. Cullen was apprehensive about how residents would respond.

“I was relieved, because the hometown crowd was very enthusiastic for it, and I think proud, because it accurately represents what Storm Lake is like, and people are proud of that,” he said. “They liked seeing it. It was a loving reflection on the community.”

The session was moderated by Sue Collins, an associate professor of communication, culture and media at Tech. She was one of the recipients of a Michigan Humanities Grant to bring the “Bad Info” series of events and exhibits to Tech.

After fighting waves of misinformation regarding everything from Jan. 6 to COVID, Cullen felt the paper has been able to make headway. He said Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 race, and the election of Joe Biden, was in part a response to Trump’s record of lies.

“Facebook is so ubiquitous, and so malign and misaligned to our democratic interest. It’s certainly bigger than all the newspapers combined,” he said. “But again, you just kind of hope that if you just keep hammering it home, eventually, that’ll make it into that Facebook feed somehow, someway or into the civic discourse, and that the facts will eventually prevail.”

“Storm Lake” was one of three films brought to the festival as part of the ongoing Bad Info series. For a schedule of past and upcoming events, go to mtu.edu/badinfo.