All language subtitles for Storm.Lake.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG3_English

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I'm sorry, we're--
we're on deadline.

We're ready to put
it on the page,

so, yeah, I appreciate
that, thanks.

Mm-hmm, bye.

[Art Cullen]
Dolores, this press release
is coming at you,

from the police,
about the building.

Tom, could you
come here a sec?Sure.

They added this
to the lede.

I think we've got
to tell the readers

what the hell is going
on here, okay?

Thank you.No problem.

[phone ringing]

[Jennifer Newton]
The Times.

Mmm, we're on deadline
so I'll see if he's available.

Art, are you available for
Gary Lipshutz in Sioux City?

No.

He actually is a little
bit busy at the moment.

Could you maybe try
back this afternoon?

What time is it, 9:35?

Is the building
story done, Dolores?

I'm still doing it.

When that clock hits 10:00,
I'm gonna start going apeshit.

I get real uptight
about deadlines.

Every hour we're late,
it costs us a hundred bucks.

You know, get all amped up
twice a week.

[laughing]

Snapping at family
members, and you know,

it never works out
well later.

You know, Jesus, you've been
doing this for 40 years

and people still don't
know what time it is.

♪♪

[Art]
By today's standards
"The Storm Lake Times"

has cause to celebrate,
holding steady

in our annual report that
we published on Friday.

We've always operated
at the break-even point.

One year we post a small profit,
the next a small loss.

Seven dollars.

Through three decades
we have persevered

thanks primarily to your
support, our family of readers.

A lot of people
disagree with him,

but they sure
read the paper.

I think it gets people
to become more open-minded.

At least that's what I hope.

[Art]
"The Storm Lake Times" weaves

the fabric of the community
in large ways and small.

We're working hard as ever
covering the City Council,

The School Board, Board of
Supervisors in the court house.

Do you feel comfortable
saying, uh,

if it's going
to trial or not?

Oh, we're going
to trial.
Okay.

Son Tom Cullen, our reporter,
lives the job.

Come on!
Come here.

My wife, Dolores Cullen,
is everywhere with Peach

the Newshound
and the Times-mobile.

This is Ice Out Day,

the day when all the ice melts.

[Art]
My sister-in-law, Mary Cullen,
is hunting recipe features.

Isn't that pretty?
What are the health

benefits of cooking
low-salt?

[Art]
A pretty good rule
is that an Iowa town

will be about as strong
as its newspaper and its banks.

And without strong local
journalism to tell

a community story, the fabric
of the place becomes frayed.

The news pages are the heart
of the newspaper,

and editorial pages
the soul.

My brother, fearless leader
John Cullen,

founded the newspaper
in 1990 with the belief

that honest reporting
would attract a crowd.

It has.

[cheering and applause]

It's a great moment.

Thank you.
Thanks, again.

[applause]

Tom, stand up.
Give me a hug.

Now we need to grow that crowd
to sustain our mission,

and again humbly
ask your support

as we did nearly
30 years ago.

Tom?
Police reports done?

They're done.
Thank you.

We will always try
to be worthy of it.

[wind chimes tinkling]

No, no, haven't
fed her, nothing.

All right.
I've been
completely negligent.

Oh, it's still
early.

In the old days of lead type,
editors would, uh,

lock up pages of lines of type.
They'd lock them up,

uh, in what we called a chase.

And if you were
wearing a long tie,

you could lock your tie into
the, uh, into the chase, so...

[chuckling]

So editors
wore bow ties.

I don't have
enough butter.

You always
got lard.
Yeah.

You took
all the butter.

I took all
the butter, right.

[newscaster]
The small Iowa town
of Storm Lake is where

some of the Democrats running
for president will be speaking.

It's the first major
multi-candidate event

of the campaign so far.

Part of the appeal is to be
onstage with the town's

Pulitzer Prize-winning
newspaper editor.

[newscaster 2]
Art Cullen, the lanky
white-haired editor

of "The Storm Lake Times" walks
across a downtown street.

Plenty of Democrats
running for president

want to be seen with Art.

[Art]
So it kind of tells me who
really cares about rural Iowa.

And if you ain't there,
you're square.

Welcome to all
of you to Storm Lake,

The City Beautiful,
and Buena Vista University.

I'm Art Cullen, editor
of "The Storm Lake Times."

And I'd like to introduce
our first guest.

And we're very thankful
that Senator Elizabeth Warren

from Massachusetts can be here.

[cheering and applause]

Thank you, Senator.
Thank you.

Farm income is down
by half since 2013.
Yup.

What can we do to provide
immediate farm income relief

in what is quickly
becoming an emergency?

A generation ago,
37 cents out of every

food dollar went
into a farmer's pocket.

Today it's 15 cents.

And one of the
principal reasons for that

has been concentration
in agribusiness.

So I want to see enforcement
of our antitrust laws.

I've called for the breakup
of these agribusinesses.

[applause]

Two-thirds of Iowa's
99 counties, all rural,

are declining
in population.

How can we ease
the transition of immigrants

into rural areas
to rejuvenate them?

I'm very proud of the story
of Storm Lake in many ways.

You all have shown the value
of the immigrant community.

I never thought before this
campaign that I would get

great Mexican food in Iowa,
but I have.

[laughter and applause]

Take a couple of minutes and
just tell us why you're running

for president and what
your campaign's all about.

Well, first of all,
it is wonderful to be here.

And as you know,
I'm your senator next door.

I can see Iowa
from my porch.

[laughter]

[applause]

[Art]
What'd you think, Whitney?
Did you enjoy that?

The forum thing?Yeah.

Tom, you're going to write
a lead story on the forum

and then make, what,
a sidebar on Vilsack, or--

Yeah.
Or are you just
working him into...

Yeah.
Love the cowboy shirt.

[laughs]
Don't ask
where I got it.

Where'd you get it?Uh, just don't ask.

Uh...
Some dead guy, or...

Yeah, it was
an estate sale.

Yeah, okay, all right.

Well, anyway, uh,
Vilsack sidebar...Yeah.

And, uh, the forum
for the front.
Yep, yep.

Okay.

[Dolores]
I have this, uh, listing

of when Ice Out Day
was since 1975.

We kind of fell off the wagon
and stopped keeping track

of Ice Out Day since 2012.

Now with all this talk about
climate, now there's

kind of like, oh, well, maybe
this is more interesting

than we used to think.

Some of these
were already signed.

Paying some bills today.
Gotta pay the garbage man

and the rug man and...
the printer man.

[chuckling]Hey, John?

All the
fun stuff.

[Art]
Would you mind coming
over here a sec?

I'm just laying out
the front page here,

and of course the big story
for this issue is the forum

with the five
presidential candidates.

Each image needs
about the same weight

so no candidate can say,
you know, I wasn't fair to them.

It looks good
to me, yeah.Thank you.

John's taught me everything
I know about photography.

He taught me about
how to use pictures.

He taught me all about graphics.

And he's got a great eye.

[Art]
How's that forum
story coming?

Good.
Just a sec.

[Dolores]
Ice Out, two pictures
and a story, it's all done.

Okay then.

♪♪

Oh, there they are.

I left Storm Lake.
I graduated from high school

here and left and shook
the shit off my boots

and never wanted
to look back.

But my brother John
started this newspaper,

so I came back because
I was sick of working

for corporate newspapers
without a soul.

And, uh, it was a great move.

We did that
presidential forum,

but that's not the reason
we get up in the morning.

Most people in Storm Lake
care a lot more about

whether garbage
is getting picked up

than whether, uh,
Elizabeth Warren is in town.

So when it comes to news,
our motto is if it didn't happen

in Buena Vista County,
it didn't happen.

We're about an hour
and a half drive

from the Minnesota border,
halfway between

Fort Dodge and Sioux City.

We are the county seat
of Buena Vista county.

I was born in 1957.

Storm Lake was a lily-white
Republican town.

And we had one Jewish family
and one Black person.

In the '90s immigrants populated
Storm Lake and turned it blue.

But the rest of the county
drowns out that Storm Lake vote.

And so it's very much like
a microcosm of the nation.

It's important to know

who had a baby
and who died

in a community of ten
to fifteen thousand people.

That's important
in this community,

to know who's getting
married and buried.

And it's important to know what
the city council is up to.

So I think it is important
to have real news.

I'm still old-fashioned enough
to believe in the wisdom

of Thomas Jefferson
and the First Amendment.

[chuckles]

Maybe a quaint idea these days.

But the question is,

you know, how long does
a community support journalism?

And it appears to me that

whether it's Storm Lake
or Buffalo Center,

people aren't supporting
journalism like they did.

35 in and 23 out...

Okey-doke.
...for the Times.

The last I knew,
there were about

300 news deserts
in the United States.

And these are towns with twenty
or thirty thousand people

that are now without
a local news source.

You could say, well,
they can get their news

from the metro paper,
but these metro papers

don't cover those
communities anymore.

When I started out in this
business, there were newspapers

so fat you could
barely lift them.

Now there's
no newspaper at all.

You've got to have
a strong business model

to do good journalism.

The problem is that
the business model

is falling apart and, uh...

Uh, and also, rural
communities are a lot weaker

now than they used to be.

And that makes rural
newspapers weaker.

A lot of the mom and pop
stores that were

the basis of our
advertising are gone.

The small-town feed dealers
and businesses that catered

to farmers, which is our base
here, they're gone because,

the family farms are going,
and they're being taken over

by big corporate livestock
operations which either have

their own feed mills or they buy
direct from the manufacturer.

So they don't need Bob and
Sally's feed store anymore.

And Bob and
Sally's feed store

then doesn't need
"The Storm Lake Times."

So somehow we've
got to increase

the number of readers.

If you don't have readers,
you've got nothing.

But now people want
to get their news for free,

because apparently looking
at their breakfast on Facebook

is all the information
they need to live

as an informed
voter in America.

And that's not how you
sustain a democracy, you know?

You need people who can talk
about facts and deal in facts.

And that Iowa is getting
warmer and wetter

through the decades,
those are facts.

That's what we're here for.

And people have said, "Oh, well,
that's not worth a dollar."

♪♪

[thunder rumbles]

[Tom]
Chelsea, right?

Yes.
Uh, I'm Tom Cullen

with the Times
at Storm Lake.
Hi.

And it's my understanding you
had some material for the media?

If you have your card,
I can email you and make

sure that we get you that
information that has

all the speakers
and their bios and...

Thank you so much,
really appreciate it.Yeah, you're welcome.

Joe Catera,
how's it going?

Okay, welcome, are you ready
to stand with me today?

[cheering]Are you ready?

Let me know if you're ready
to work with me today,

because all about what
we're doing today is going

to be about how hard
we will work together

to move our issues forward.

Our farm and rural communities
are in crisis mode right now.

We're fed up
with multinational

corporations
extracting our wealth.

If you wonder why our cities
and towns are being

hollowed out, you know, when
you understand the largest

owner of beef, poultry,
and pork in this country

is a foreign corporation
extracting wealth,

taking opportunities
out of rural communities.

We need to protect
our natural resources.

Believe it or not, we're not
the last generation
that's going

to live on this land, you know,
so it's time for a change.

So thank you all very much
for coming, thank you.

Hi, Emmanuel.
This is Dolores Cullen

at "The Storm Lake Times."

Can you call me back
today so we can talk

about your, uh,
talent show experience?

Thank you, bye.

Emmanuel Trujillo,
the guy who tipped me off,

sent me a thing last night.

And so I looked it up online,
and he seems to be advancing

in this show called
"Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento."

And so I looked at the video...

[Emmanuel singing]

This is a Storm Lake guy

who works at Tyson and...

It looks like they like him.

Well, hey, Emmanuel.

You work at Tyson, right?

I wanted to be able
to take a picture of you.

I thought it would be kind of
cool to, you know,

you'd just be in like the Tyson
parking lot or something.

Like, you know, by your car.
And then it would just be...

You can't have any picture
taken at Tyson?

That's okay.
Could I come to where you live?

Okay, muy bien.

Okay, bye.

This is really good for
our community when we have,

like, happy stories
about all types of people.

[Art]
We're all about happy.

That's my...
That's my beat, Art.

You're on
the happy beat.
Yeah.

Hello.
Come in.

My name's Dolores.

And I am here
to see Emmanuel.

Yeah, he's coming.Okay, he's coming.

It's nice to meet you.Yeah!

I'm Elena.
Oh, great.

And then this
is your daughter.
Yeah.

Okay.
Hi!

You're a singing star.

Yep!

Congratulations

Thank you so much.

What do you think your
chances are of, uh,

going on beyond
the next round?

It's, uh, maybe a hundred... 100
more people.

A hundred-- Oh!

Yeah, so the
competition is too hard.

A hundred more people will
be competing against you...

Yep, in that second time.

The second time.

So weren't you
really nervous?

Yeah, the first time.
Oh, really, really nervous.

And I had--You don't look nervous.

You look, you look...Oh, yeah.

kind of, like, excited.

And that's how you looked
when you were singing, too.

You looked very confident.

[both laughing]

I'm okay, I'm okay.

Big smile.

Okay.

When I met Art, he was
at the, um, Algona paper.

And they were doing things

like this, uh, feature stories

about a family that had,
um, seventeen children.

And, uh, it appealed to me,

'cause I'm a visual person.

I'm an art major.

I wasn't really into politics
or anything like that,

but very interested in telling
stories in a creative way.

And so, to be involved
with them,

that was something
that I was interested in.

I didn't know that
I would become involved

in the enterprise eventually.

But, uh, I started
taking pictures.

And I was usually told
by Art that, you know,

if something is interesting,
go ahead and report it.

And this, uh, we were covering
how, uh, local people

were teaching English
to newcomers

who did not speak English.

And these were
Sudanese people.

And so I took the picture
of-- of this woman,

and Art chose
to run it big like this.

And we did get an anonymous
letter by--

from someone who said, "Oh, why
is she on the front page?"

And it was really mean.

Um, and that this was
a long time ago.

I mean, there was
kind of blatant racism.

Uh, so then Julio Barroso was
featured, uh, back in 1996

as being a kid who helped
other kids learn English.

And there was a raid of
the meatpacking plant.

And then in the following issue

it was reported
that Julio is gone.

8-year-old deported
with parents.

Since we do these feature
stories, we get to know people,

but they're not just, like,
anonymous immigrants.

This is a kid that
we think is awesome and cute.

So then the next day
when we find out

that they were kicked out
of the U.S., uh, we cared.

And so then later
we were asking, you know,

whatever happened to Julio?

And that's where Tom started
doing this investigating,

and we actually found him
in Mexico

as a young adult today.

[Art]
A little boy from 22 years ago
was top of mind last Thursday.

Julio Barroso.

In 1996, the world changed
for Julio,

then in second grade
at North School.

The immigration agents swooped
in on IBP, predecessor to Tyson,

and rounded up scores of
undocumented immigrants.

Barroso's family was among them.

Julio, now 30 years old, is
married and the father of three,

working in Guadalajara, Mexico

for one-tenth the $18 per hour
he could get in Storm Lake.

A dream is foreclosed.

In our lush, green town
of 15,000 or so--

we don't know
our exact population

because so many are immigrants.

Nestled among the row crops

and hog houses
at Northwest Iowa,

2,200 workers cut up pigs
and turkeys for Tyson.

300 others crack eggs
for liquid shipment

at Rembrandt Foods
15 miles north.

Hundreds more distill
ethanol from corn.

And those 3,000 or so--

maybe half undocumented,
who knows--

are worrying not just about jobs

but also about their lives
in Trump's America.

Even those with papers will tell
you they feel a little edgy.

Dreamers are our vitality,
our future.

They want to stay here
with family,

unlike so many of us who push
our children off to Chicago

or the Twin Cities.

And we all wish that Julio

would come home
to Storm Lake someday.

We need him and miss him.

We're going to suburban
Sulphur Springs, Iowa.

Providence Township.

The home of John Snyder.

Big John.

Plumber and farmer.

I'm mainly interested in,
when did he plant corn?

How did he cope
with the spring weather,

which was torrents of rain?

Wow.

This would be a picture like
we've never seen, John.

I mean, it's just barely
knee-high now.

[camera shutter clicks]

We had one day
on May 4th...

For corn.
For planting, yeah.

And then we got
rained out...

until the 15th
and 16th of May.

We had two days.

We didn't get back in
until June 2nd.

Have you ever seen it this wet
in the spring before?

No. Never.
Not in my lifetime.

You know, I usually get out
end of April.

You're right.

And we're usually done
by May 10th.

What do you figure you get
knocked off in your yield?

What'd you get
last year... on corn?

Oh, probably 225.
Probably.

What would you guess
you'll get this year?

Take a wild-ass guess.

150.

I don't know.

If you say 150,

then everything
after that is better.

Yeah.Right?

[laughs]
Right.

That's gravy.

That's gravy on top
of your taters.

Hi, Peach.

I wasn't really interested
in doing the "Knee-High

by the Fourth of July" story
like we always did,

but this year the weather's
been so bizarre

that I thought
we really needed to do it, um,

because we've never seen
the corn like this before.

A guy farming today, you're
going to need, you know,

over a thousand acres
to support a family.

And a generation ago,

John could raise a family
on 350 to 500 acres

if he sustained himself
on the corn,

and then could make
some real money on hogs.

That all changed
in the 1990s, really,

when the pork industry was
vertically integrated,

where the packer owns the hogs,

and drove John
out of production.

You know, that's the game
for most people.

If you're going
to be in agriculture,

then you're working
for a company.

Let's say you break up the, uh,
vertical integration model.

Then where does that leave
our pork production system?

And where does it leave
these immigrants

who are working here
if you blow it all up?

And so I don't know.
I don't know.

[crowd chatter]

[marching band approaching]

[woman]
Yeah! Whooo!

[camera shutter clicks]

God bless the Irish.

[man]
Everybody make yourself
comfortable.

We're just glad to have, uh,
Senator Grassley here with us.

And I also want
to thank him

for being super supportive
of the water well industry.

And I'm really glad
to see him here.

When I am at your, uh,
city administrative building

or your local library

and you folks can't come
to my town meetings,

I try to go places because
you're working.

So I get a chance
to interact with people

that wouldn't otherwise
interact with me.

Now, what questions
do you have?

Anything is legitimate.

[man]
I've got one.

I'm not 100% political
follower of either party.

And so, I see how this country
is divided in half.

And I'll talk to one
political party and...

they might have
a good idea,

and the other one is going
to say, "I don't want it."

Even if it's good,
they don't want it.

Just they're going
to be the opposite.

And I see that
on both sides.

What's it going to take
to change that?

You could have asked
an easier question.

[laughter]

Um, first of all, there is
too much partisanship.

And it's worse now
than it's ever been.Yeah.

But, you know,
controversy makes news.

So if people are getting along,
it doesn't make news.

Thank you.

You're still doing
a good job.

Okay.
Next question.

As we know about Storm Lake,

it's heavily reliant
on immigration.

Uh, what's your
sense on that?

Um, what's--
what do you tell people

in Storm Lake
who are afraid?

I don't think you have
to be afraid

unless you're
violating the law.

But as a practical
matter, uh,

wasn't there a figure out
a couple of weeks ago

that there could be
100,000 people deported?Mm-hmm.

Well, think, 100,000
out of 11 million people...

Yeah.

So why would you have
to be very concerned?

I mean, if-- say if you're
undocumented here in town--

and let's just be real,

there are undocumented
people here in town--

I would be very afraid if
Trump admits through tweet

that we're going to deport
tens of millions of people.

Well...Uh, and I understand

the news media debunked
a little bit of that.

We-- I-- I get your point.

We got people
in Congress

that think you line up
11 million people

and get them
out of the country.

That's not
the real world.

And I'm not telling
anybody that.Yeah. Okay.

You've never heard
me say that.No.

The only thing you've heard me
say about legalization is

we can't take care
of that issue

until we convince the people
that we can secure the border.

And listen, you know how
many people on the right

would be irritated
with what I just told you--

that I'd even be
thinking about that?Yeah.

[Tom]
It is meaningful when
politicians want to have

a serious discussion with us.

It's all Dad ever wanted
when he started this thing.

Growing up here in Storm Lake

and being Art Cullen's
son was...

It was a bit
of a roller coaster.

I remember there were teachers
who would say,

"This is what Art Cullen thinks,
and he's wrong."

You always had to know
about the issues.

It was very difficult actually,
now that I look back at it.

[piano playing]

[dog barks]

I never put two and two together

as to why Dad would be
working on a Saturday.

Mom was always the one
who took care of us.

[children screaming]

Okay, can you put
them in, Joe?

Now I realize you can't
necessarily go

to kids' baseball games
or take them on vacation

when there's a paper
to get out the next week.

There's a demand for excellence
if you're a Cullen.

You will not get away
with less than 110%.

Every one of Dad and John's kids
worked here.

And I'm the only one left.

But still at the same time,

there's this bond
that connects us all.

We all know that we gotta
stick together.

'Cause we're all
in the same leaky ship.

Tom, can you come here
a second, please?

That's a confusing
sentence.

[Tom]
And the prospect
of the newspaper

not being around terrifies me.

'Cause not only
is it a newspaper

which is, in my opinion,

the most important pillar
of the community.

It's the family.

[Art]
You brought sunshine
with you.

Right? It's coming.

I've got to warn you, there's
a bunch of fans in here.

They're kind of-- It might be
kind of a circus in there.

Thanks so much
for having us--

Well, thanks for coming.
We appreciate it.

Come on in,
everybody.

Thank you.

How are you doing?

Glad to meet you.
I'm John Cullen.

I'm Jim Cullen.

Nice to meet you.

Jim is my brother.
Uh, he's the editor

of the "Progressive
Populist"...

Uh-huh....out of Austin, Texas.

And we produce it here.

Nice.

Well, anyway,
welcome to Iowa.

Thank you.

And especially
to Storm Lake.

We've been talking
with, uh, people

a lot about rural America...Mm-hmm.

...and how we got kind of
flown over, uh...

[laughs]
...last time.

So we're real happy
you're here.

And we're hearing
that perhaps the campaigns

might not even play in Iowa,
Wisconsin, and Ohio

in the general election--

that we're going to get
flown over again.

Policy-wise...Right.

...rural America is
often talked about

kind of like a problem
we've got to solve.

[Art]
Right. [laughs] Right.

Our message ought to make
sense in rural America,

'cause the Democratic Party
grew out of the idea that--

that we're standing up for
the overlapping interests

between workers
and farmers.

It's kind of
an unusual community.

It's an immigrant
community.

But people here
are living in fear.

And they were living
in fear

during the two terms of the
Obama administration as well.

What kind of damage
has this wrought?

And we're not just talking
about immigrants.

We're just talking about
race relations in general.

Our city is growing,
finally.

Not by much,
but we're proud of--

To be-- to even have
a positive number

is a big deal
for us, right?

If you net out the factor that
immigration played in that,

we'd be flat-line at best.

And so when the President says
we're full, I'm thinking...

Right....we're not full.

But the thing is, if we do not
resolve racial inequality

in our lifetime--
yours, anyway--

um, it could sink the American
project in our lifetime.

I think we're going
to have to go.

I'm sorry.Well, anyway--

Sorry to cut it
a little short.

Thank you very much.Same here.

Thanks for having us.

I hope you'll be back.I sure hope so.

Good to see
you again.

I hope you stop by again.I hope so.

Hey, did you sign our sign
of the Times?

Oh, no, I'll sign that.

Yeah, you gotta go
up top now.

Oh, man.

You're a lefty.

All the great ones,
you know?

Did you ever
pitch?

All right.
No, I got two left hands.

Oh.[laughter]

♪♪

[camera shutter clicks]

♪♪

[pigs oinking]

♪♪

We're headed out
to see Tom Lane,

who's running for city council.

And the reason why
I'm interested in this

is, Tom became interested
in city government,

uh, when they were about to
shut down Westview Trailer Park

and they were about to evict him
from his house.

And he took the leadership
role in that community

to stand up to the mayor
and the city council in Alta

to say that these are our homes
and we're staying.

Oh, man.These weigh about 12 pounds.

And they're a flat head
Dutch German cabbage.

How do you get something
to be 12 pounds?

All this stuff
is pure organic.

No chemicals.

And when did you move
to Westview again?

31 years ago.31 years ago.

I'll just say this,
it just--

it does look a lot better
than what it was.Yeah.

And it's my understanding that
you were behind all that...

Yeah....with your effort
at city council.

Is that the--
the culminating piece?Yeah.

I was reading
the-- in the paper

that all these openings
were coming up.Yeah.

And all of a sudden
I decided, you know what,

I'm going to run
for city council.Mm-hmm.

How many signatures
did you need for that?

They said
it was ten,

but I got actually
15 of them.Okay.

My wife here, Tarla.
Grab some signs

out of the back end
of the pickup here.

Okay, if everybody's ready,

we're going to hit
the campaign trail.

[Tom]
All right.

What expertise
could you offer?

Really, my expertise--

I can walk in
a trailer house

and tell you
exactly right now

what's not kosher
and everything.Uh-huh.

Well, I've been underneath
every one of these
trailer houses.

Either checking
heat tapes or...Yeah.

...fixing a frozen pipe,
20 below zero,

wind blowing up
your... back end.Yeah.

Not just work on things,

but I'd help people, too.Yeah.

You know...Well, yeah.

Like, I've given them
vegetables and...

Yeah....everything.

And I used to go
to Sioux City and...

Yeah....and buy a truckload
of bread...

Oh, I didn't know that.

...and bring it
back here and--

and just hand it
out to people.

Wow.

Hi there.

[woman]Hi.

I'm going to put a sign out.
Is that all right?

That's totally fine.
Yep, go for it.

♪♪

So has someone else
in your family

been Pork Queen,
Pork Princess?

No.My other daughter, she's our
Little Miss Fair Queen.

Oh, yeah.So she's--

Oh, okay.

Now it's coming
together for me.

I've seen the name...Yeah, and she was a...

...McCarthy....Little Miss too
when she was that age.

You guys have royalty
in your blood.

We do.

This is
Mrs. Hughes-Camp.

She's our second grade
teacher.

Hi.
Nice to meet you.

Do you guys know
what's in pig's feed?

Any guesses?

Mud.No.

[laughs]Calvin?

Corn.Yep, corn is one of them.

And then soybeans
is the other.

The piglets in this picture

are drinking milk
from their mother.

Look at their noses.
They are called snouts.

Can you make a sound
like a pig?

[children oinking]

Okay, so the pig we're
going to bring in

is about three
or four weeks old.

[pig squealing]

You like
the diapered pig?

I haven't
seen that.

Here, let me get
around here.

You guys are...
[laughs]

We try to prevent,
uh, accidents.

Yeah, because I'm sure
it's happened before.

It's traumati--
Yeah, it has.

Turn him a little
more sideways, yeah.

Yeah.

[pig squealing]

[classroom "aww"ing]

You guys have
any questions?

[boy]
Do you hand them out
to the market

when they're babies
and full-grown?

So they only go to market
when they're a big pig.

The pig has feed
all day long,

because we want them to grow
as much as possible

in a short amount of time.

Because that is what the pork
industry is all about.

We want to grow
the best product

with the least amount
of resources.

Art, when I write about
the pork producer's visit,

could I write "This little
piggy wears a diaper"?

Sure.Okay.

'Cause it seemed like
they were kind of, like,

covering up the diaper part.

And they'd wrapped him up
in a towel.

And I'm like,
gee, why cover that up?

I mean, this-- why--
[laughs]

especially
in Albert City where--

I went there last night,

and it absolutely
reeked again.

It was so putrid

I almost gagged
from hog confinements.

And I was
at the post office

and a guy said hi
to me,

'cause I was delivering
the papers.

And I said, "Does it
really smell this bad

in town all the time?"

Because it smelled
so bad on Monday.

And he said, "Oh, no,
it's just harvest

and they're drying
a lot of corn."

And I'm like, no, this is
not the smell of drying corn.

This is hog shit.

Um, so anyway.

He has really
pretty eyes.

Okay, now recipes.
What are you thinking?

So I have lots.

Okay, so this pumpkin
bread recipe is,

um, from my grandma,
my mom's mom.

Oh!And it's delish.

The pea soup recipe,

um, we used to have pea soup
every Christmas...

Really?...with my grandpa.

'Cause it was one of
my grandpa's favorites, so.

Oh, nice. Well, we could
do all of them!

I don't care.
Whatever.

Are you okay with that?Yeah.

I mean, that's a bunch, but
it's-- they're all good.

Sandy, hi.

This is John Cullen
at "The Storm Lake Times."

I need to check on a loan
payment from September 16th.

I need to know how much
was principal

and how much was interest.

[Whitney]
All right, wish me luck.

Per paper, we try to get over
$3,000 worth of ads.

They keep the lights on.

And that can be hard.

Especially when
Art won the Pulitzer.

It actually got more difficult.

Because people in this town
can be very conservative.

And they didn't like
that he won.

So I actually had a big
backfire on me for a while.

Hey, Mike.

Holiday open house time.

Here's what we did
last year.

Okay.
I'm not for sure,

so we'll have to go over
that sort of percentages--

Yeah.
That's no problem.

[door chimes]

Hey, Travis.Hey, how are you?

I have last year's ad
that we did.

Okay.We did the quarter
page in color.

We could even do like a couple
more pictures on there, too.

Okay, yeah.

[bell chiming]

This is what we did
last year.

It's a little smaller
than a quarter page

for a total of 100.

But it was for two times
in the paper in color.

Or we can go down
to the one-time one.

'Cause I know a lot
of people are going

to be in Friday's issue.

Friday's?Yeah, next Friday.

And it's a hundred?Yeah.

Or we can do--
we can go down to the 52

if you want to do just
once, that's fine.

Can I think about it?Yeah. Yeah.

When do you need it by?

I can always stop in
on Monday

or Tuesday
next week, too.

Running twice--
when would it run?

Wednesday and Friday?Yeah.

Let me think about it
just a minute...Yeah.

...and get a hold of you
Monday morning.Yeah.

Sounds good.

Hey, you have a good day.You too.

Tell Mary I said hi.

Thank you. I will.
Bye-bye.See you later.

I think it looks good
for our newspaper

to have all the ads
from downtown in there,

'cause then you can see that,

like, the businesses
also support you.

You know, scratch our back,
scratch yours.

I mean, how else do you make
a small community survive?

♪♪

Art and I have always liked,
uh, delivering papers.

You know, that's one of
the most important things

about journalism.
The-- the best stories

in the world aren't any good
if you don't

get them out on the street
so people can read them.

You run into people
in the store,

"Oh, you got the new paper?"

Or maybe
they'll tell you off.

That's happened to me
a couple of times.

And that's good, too.

Art's definitely the voice of
the Democrats here in BV County.

We're largely Republican
in this area.

And I am more Republican.

So I like to read, though,

what he has to say about it
and think about it.

I kind of bypass over
the opinions most days.

Everybody's got one,
and usually they stink.

I'm more interested
in the local news

and what's
actually happening.

If we see something we don't
like or we find offensive,

it's easy to reach out to them
and let them know how we felt.

[laughs] And they are
really good at,

you know, getting
back to you and--

and sit down and
discussing the issue at hand.

[John Cullen]
I think it's very helpful

that we know what's going on
in the community.

There are consequences for
everything we do.

And we feel that feedback
immediately.

You know, you guys
cover a lot.

You are big advocates for
all the Latino community.

With the struggles that all
the newspapers we have,

no matter what
language you are,

I was thinking that maybe

we try to do
something together,

you know, we can help
one each other.

Yeah.
So I was thinking

you guys can give me
your story in English.

I translate it, you know,
in-- in Spanish.

And all the credit
is going to be

for--
for your paper.

So would the stories
that we do

in the Times go
into La Prensa then?

It will be--
Yes.

And I will...

So we can take stories
out of La Prensa?

You can take stories
out of La Prensa also.

I will translate those
stories in English for you.

Okay.
Cool.

So would we do the ad sales
or would you?

I was thinking no, you know,
you have advertising people.

[John]
One person.

Oh, you have one person.

Okay.
Yeah.

I just like the idea of
shared content... myself.

And I don't know
what appetite there is

among advertisers to go in
La Prensa Latino publications,

but I'm sure there is one.

If it will be 15,
20 years ago

probably we would not be
talking right now.

Right, yeah.Yeah.

Yeah. But it's
getting tough.

And it's sad,
because we are losing...
Yeah.

...the big foundation of
the small communities

that our newspapers...Yeah.

Because nobody else is going
to fight for the little person.

Nobody.

Nobody going to talk
about corruption.

Nobody going to
talk about the church;

about, you know,
the activity

that the community
get together,

no matter what
race we are...

Facebook don't
going to do that.

Yeah.
But it's sad.

It's sad that
it's taking over.

Some politicians
talk about fake news.

There it is,
the fake news.
Yeah.

Facebook.

We go to the,
you know, to the field.
Yeah.

We look the person
eye to eye.

We interact
with that person.
Yeah.

[Tom]
We have to live
next to them.

Exactly.
Exactly.

Well, it sounds like
a good possibility.

I'm, uh-- But as I say,
I think, well, Art has to...

Sign off.Make the decision.

...sign off on this, uh...Mm-hmm.

Thank you so much.

Well, thanks
for stopping in.

No, thank you.

Thanks a lot, Lorena.Thank you.

I appreciate it.Yeah, thank you so much.

Could I have, uh, water too
when you have a minute?

So what's, uh,
this Lorena want to do?

She wants--She was in here
yesterday and asked...

Yeah.
...if we could share
content and ads.

She says that there's
a lot of potential

for us to sell ads
for her.

And if she's interested
in our content,

we can make a little
bit more money.

I don't see
why we can't do it.

It wouldn't hurt to have
a couple feet on the street.

Yeah.

And she said there's a good
appetite for our stories there.

It's just no one can
read them in English.

So it would be a way
to build readership.

Sounds good to me.Yeah.

Is there anything else
we could be doing with,

say, the website
or something like that?

I like the idea of,
like, Starbucks

selling Wall Street
Journal subscriptions.

[Art]
Oh yeah, I saw that, yeah.

Like, why can't
we do that?

If you could pitch it
to a place where

as soon as you
log on to public Wi-Fi,

you get like a daily
complimentary access
to StormLake.com.

You'd promote it,
and it's free--

just one for day only.

I don't know that
we have enough critical mass

to make it work,
but who knows?

If it sells us a couple
of subscriptions...

Yeah....what the hell?

An idea that I raised before
is the idea of a podcast.

And then you would be
the star of it.

If we could do it
semi-regularly,

maybe once a month
or something.

Who's going to sell the
sponsorship for a podcast

that has a hundred
listeners?

I think this should be
about reporting and--

and I should stick
to writing columns

and editorials and...Okay.

And I don't understand
podcasts, necessarily.

And if I wanted to
get into radio,

I would have
gotten into radio.Yeah.

I understand
this whole...

If the podcast idea is like--
I'm not married to it.

No, no, I know.But--

I like the idea that you're
bringing things up,

but it's just that, uh,
we've got to concentrate

on circulation,
I think.

We're putting out
a good paper.

That's all I know.Yeah.

Ultimately that
will pay, right?

Yeah.

♪♪

[Art]
The lake is frozen
and snow-swept.

Men will squat
in fishing shacks

to take out their anger
on walleye and perch

while contemplating
the Christmas message.

It must be time to write
that holiday letter.

The kids are okay.
They're not kids.

They're adults able to ride
a bicycle solo.

You done good, Dolores.

Yet I wake up with a pit
in my stomach.

The Republic is under attack
from foes foreign and domestic.

The Constitution is under test.

A free press is in peril.

Here in a small Northwest Iowa
town full of churches,

you would like to
think better of ourselves.

We rush to our neighbor in need,

bring in his crops,
shovel his drive,

donate for his new kidney
at a pancake feed,

yet the Commander-in-Chief

thinks the law of the land
is something for someone else.

Anxiety is the word.

The corn wasn't that bad.

The rain
just wouldn't stop.

Tyson is building a new
feed mill for its turkeys,

a good sign for Storm Lake.

The refugee children in
our elementary holiday concert

are the Christmas story.

The divine finds us
despite the walls.

Christmas is the time
when we hope to perfect

the flaws of this world.

There remains more
warmth of sharing here

than shadows of fear.

The hope that we can be made
more perfect endures,

an antidote to anxiety.

[Dolores Cullen]
I just got a first baby
of the year picture, Art.

They're Micronesian.

We usually make a big fuss
about the first baby.

It's a horizontal picture
with a cut line.

[Art]
I've been up all night.

I'm not in
a good mood.

Let's get that story.

[Tom]Okay.

[mouths: "Fuck"]

Well, I guess
we'll just go without

heart medicine again
this month.

[laughs]

Our accountant says
we made about $2,000,

so...[laughs]

Uh, a profit of $2,000 is
better than a loss of $2,000.

We're kind of
like farmers.

As long as we have
money in the bank

at the end of the year,
we're happy.

Squeaking by.

We're still keeping
ten employees fed.

And, uh, I don't,
uh, get paid now.

I'm on social security,

so I'm donating
my time to the cause.

[Art]
The reason he's here is to
make sure we don't go broke.

[laughs]Yeah.

And then we'll be
really screwed.

[Brian Gomez]
Here you go.

[Barb Lange]
Welcome.

The purpose of this meeting
is to give you more information

about our dual language program
that we're proposing

to start in Fall of 2020.
So next fall.

[Yoanna Rosas speaking Spanish]

[Barb]
There are some other dual
language programs in Iowa.

We will be the seventh
in the state.

We want this program
to look much like

what our demographics
look like in our school.

So we're going to run
a lottery system.

We're not sure how many
we'll have the first year,

but we're guessing that
this will catch on

and we'll get more
and more every year.

All right, are you ready?

Everybody's got
a thumbs up, right?

One, two, three.
Dual language!

[classroom]
Dual language!

What's going to happen
on Monday exactly?

How does
a caucus work?

Okay, uh, what a caucus is,
is people will gather

at community centers

and there'll be
collections of neighbors.

And there's expected to
be record turnout of like

250,000 or more on Monday
night across the state.

And they'll come into
these fire stations

and schoolhouses
at the precinct level

and they'll hear speeches
from precinct captains.

And then they'll say,
okay, now everybody

split into caucuses.

And so the Warren people
are going to caucus

over here in this corner
and the Bernie people

are going to caucus
over here in this corner.

And so everybody goes to
their respective place,

and then they
start counting heads.

And so you need
15% to be viable

to get a delegate out of
that precinct caucus.

And that's why it's
really not a primary.

It's a party-building
exercise.

This is where the delegate
selection process starts

for the Democratic
National Convention.

Whereas in a primary,
you know, you just
go in and vote.

[Jen Olson]
I just put it on
the first page.

Okay, great.
Yeah, that's perfect.

And then, so I took out
Saturday morning.

Right.
And then the Monday
through Friday morning.

Yep, that's perfect.And that's everything
that was--

You did it just right.

Let's see if we
came out with 31 like
we're supposed to.

[John]
I've written several columns
over the last couple of months

explaining what we're going
to do with the TV listings.

We had to do something,
because with our insurance

and printing costs and
everything else going up,

we just--
we're looking for ways

to control expenses
without, uh,

cutting personnel costs,

which most newspapers
have done.

And we have run a TV section
since we started, that--

it was a 12-page tab that
had all these channels.

And we thought
that maybe, uh,

we wouldn't need to run
the TV Times anymore.

And, uh, our readers
told us, no, don't do that.

Uh, they still like
the printed version better.

So we asked our readers
to let us know

which channels
they wanted to keep.

And, uh, so we were
able to drop

from about 80 channels
down to 31.

We figured all told that
running this TV section

was costing us close
to $20,000 a year.

And this'll cut our expenses
by more than half.

I hope to satisfy
our customers that way.

I've been referred
to twice now--

once in "The New York Times"
and once in "The Boston Globe"--

as having a white
mop... of hair.

Like one of those
cotton floor mops.

Think that's what you're
being compared to, Art.

So that's a hint that
you need a haircut.

Yeah.
Hint to the world.

Is that it?

Well, okay then.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]
And so when we go out
to caucus,

I went to make sure
that everybody

brings at least
one person with them.

[Bernie Sanders]
Do everything you can
to make sure

that the 2020 Iowa Caucus

has the largest
voter turnout

in the history of
the Iowa Caucus.

Thank you all very much.

I am here to speak to those who
are still making up your minds

to look you in the eye
and ask you to caucus for me.

We will continue to seek
to have a message that,

uh, reaches out
to everybody

and makes sure
everybody feels welcome.

[Art]
We need those Yang ads.

[laughter]

[Tom Cullen]
Is the policy
victories worth

the personal foibles,
you know what I mean?

I mean, who's
determining what's...

Yeah.
You know?

Is it you, the press,
determining?

Sure.
Could be.

Or is it--
is it, you know,

actions that
he's actually done.

So no, I stand be--
behind him 100%.

Sure.
Nice to see you again.

Really what I'm after
here is what you're seeing

from voters, what
message seems to be
resonating the most.

So I'm going into
the small towns,

and they feel--
people feel so forgotten.

Especially farmers.

And they talk
about the tariffs.

And I think they want
a leader who has--

who has a strong
character.

Yeah.And who is going to
lead us into the future.

Okay.Not what we have now.

[newscaster]
Literally hours away,
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders

are basically tied at the top
of the national polls.

And a lot of the polling
on the air has them

potentially one, two--
although a little more middling

with Biden and some of
the other candidates.

But the sharp ideological
divide between the two

does mirror divisions
within the Democratic Party.

One is campaigning on
shaking things up.

The other is campaigning on
steadying the ship.

Tonight's results
could ultimately signal

where the Democratic
nomination is heading.

There we are.

Peach... Art's on TV.

It just feels
like a different energy.

I don't know how to
describe it.

Well, it's not akin
to anything,

but I think
it's closest to '04

when Howard Dean
had a lead.

John Kerry shot through
at the end.

And, uh, everybody was anxious
about electability.

And that's been the theme
this year.

We are so afraid of
screwing this up in Iowa.

And, uh... Uh, Art, am I being
too simplistic?

Wow, you are hungry.

It feels like--
Sanders feels like

he's got the most
identified ones,

as they like to
say out here.

You know, he had what,
half the caucus crowd, uh,

four years ago.

I'm not sure that
he'll end up on top.

Anybody who is sure
is too full of themselves.

[woman] Hello.[Art] How you doing?

Good. How are you?Who are you guys against?

Pete? Did you see him
here at BV?

We didn't.
Uh, we were working.

Oh, he had
a big crowd here.

Very impressive.Yeah.

Did you decide
just recently?

Yes.Yeah.

Who are you with tonight?

Yeah?

They've got a pretty good
table over there.

Absolutely.

When did you make up
your mind?

Pretty much when we got here.
It was--

[laughs]

Have fun.

[crowd chatter]

[man]
Okay, we're going
to get started!

Hola, hola.

[speaking Spanish]

Everyone have one?

Okay. Now we're going to have
the precinct captains--

which for every party
that's here

that wants
to represent themselves,

um, you guys will have
two minutes to talk.

Hi, my name is
Linda Torres.

I really think my uncle Bernie
can beat Trump.

A couple of months ago
my dad had passed,

and he was in
the hospital for a week.

And we didn't have any time
to grieve over my dad

because we were too busy
fighting insurance companies.

And I truly believe that my dad
would have still been alive

if we had Medicare for all,

and he could have been
covered in Iowa,

and as soon as he got into
that ER and been helped out

by doctors instead of
waiting and waiting,

he would have still been here,

watching us fight
for our country.

Please vote for Bernie Sanders

'cause he's gonna change
our lives forever.

Hi, everyone.
My name is Jean-Marco.

Thank you very much for
coming here today.

Um, I'm here to advocate
for Andrew Yang.

Anybody else?
Okay.

All together?Yeah.

One, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight,
nine, ten,

11, 12, 13, 14, 15,

16, 17, 18,
19, 20.

Whoo!Yay!

Oh, that was--
I was like--

We got 20.

What did Amy have?

Amy had 20.
Right at 20.

So Warren and Amy
each had 20.

And you were with Yang
and you ended up with...

Sanders.

But you would have gone
with Biden...

Yes....to make him viable.

Yes.

Had you made up
your mind a while ago?

Uh, no.
I was--

As far as
second option,

I was pretty un--
undecided until today.

How about on Yang,
though?

Oh, yeah, I've been decided
on him for... months now.

Okay.

So but you're not
really disappointed?

Or are you?

I'm very--
I'm super disappointed.

Oh, you are? Okay.
All right.

Super disappointed.

Bernie! Bernie! Bernie...[Tom] Oh, my God.

This is insane.

I was not expecting this.

I thought
there would be groups

that would be
relatively even,

but I did not
expect, like,

that this would be
such a bloodbath.

You should have seen the army
of Latinos at Better Day.

Ooh, awesome.

Yeah, I'm going to send you
like 30-some pictures.

[Art]
You looked
at the Register, Tom?

I have not looked at the--

I'm looking at the site
Troy Price sent me.

Initial reports out of BV...

Nothing yet.

Hi, Ron. This is Dolores
from the Times.

Can you call me back?

We're trying to figure out
how many people

you had at Methodist Manor.

Thanks, bye.

So Warren's winning in
Des Moines at these precincts?

She did just okay here.
That's to be expected.

Uh, Buttigieg
is killing Webster.

Uh, Warren--There'll be--

Yeah, Warren didn't even
make viability there.

Yeah.Whoa.

Yeah.

[Art]
Bill! What's the news
in Dubuque?

Yeah, I'm waiting, too.
It's killing me.

That's why I called,
you know?

But it'll--
it sounds like

Bernie probably carried
Dubuque though, huh?

Thank you.
See ya. Bye.

So what we do know is
that we've been seeing
these pictures

from precinct sites
all over Iowa tonight

where Joe Biden in some of them
has not been viable.

Why is that important?

Because the Biden campaign
has been saying for a long time

that they believe they're
one of the few campaigns

that would be
viable across the state.

That yes, they may
not be as strong

in the more populated areas... That's right.

...like Des Moines
and Cedar Rapids, Davenport...

Who?Joe Biden-- uh, not viable.

...run up the score
in more rural areas.

And I have to say, Brian,
we've been covering

just about every single
Biden event there is

over the last few months
here in Iowa.

Uh, a lot of the places we go,
the best dining option

is probably
a Casey's General Store.

So these are rural areas.

And so we should consider
that tonight--

All right, Mike Memoli
at Biden Headquarters

where they officially
know nothing.

[Art]
What are you hearing?

We're all trying to figure out
here in New York

why we don't have any results
and where the hang-up may be.

I've never seen
anything like it.

Oh, hell, the--

Every election
is like this.

I can tell you the Iowa
Democratic Party now

isn't saying anything.

It's not 10:00 yet.

Yeah.

I think AP's got
a projection coming out.

In a, you know,
a general election,

you won't get the results
until midnight.

Yeah.

And yet nothing has been
reported--

It's not 10:00 yet.Yeah.

Has it ever been
in your experience--

No. Of course not.

Sometimes you won't get
the results till the next day.

Yeah.You know?

...further endearing Iowa
to the Democratic Party.

Jeez...

I know it's going to raise
more questions for sure.

Oh, that's--
What a load of crap.

I'll be curious about there's
the process questions.

Is this the way we should,
you know, nominate a President?

Iowa Democratic Party has
put a statement out.

Thank you, my dear.

Let's hear this.

We've experienced a delay
in the results

due to the fact that
the Iowa Democratic Party

is reporting out three
data sets for the first time.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah.True enough.

But regardless, we've only got
the explanation.

We still don't have any digits.

Everybody's saying it's going
to kill the Iowa caucuses...

Yeah....this delay.

It shouldn't, but it--
but it will.

Great.Good night.

Hey, Tom, would you mind
taking a look at this?

Sure.See what you think.

Sure.

Hey, Tom, throw me
a pack of smokes,

'cause if you
kill me sooner,

you can own
the newspaper sooner.

Is that reading
all right to you?

Yeah, it was great.

It was better
than I could have done.

I really wasn't concentrating
on other precincts,

but I could just say
Bernie swept the Latino
vote in Storm Lake.

Yeah.
That is 100% true.

I'm just going to operate

as though we're not going
to see any results tonight.

I heard it's those
caucus cards

that are causing
all the problems.

They never had
them before.

Yeah.They just counted heads.

Yeah.

Well... how much longer
you going to stay here?

About another 15 minutes.

But I got my lede-in,
as it it's just about Linda.

Linda's rousing speech
about her dad dying

and how Bernie Sanders'
health care plan

probably would have
prevented it.

Well, it's too bad, 'cause
it really is a good process

where neighbors
get together

and actually speak
to each other.

Yeah.

I think.
That's my opinion.

But--Yeah.

These are just-- What are--
We got the cashews in here?

Just--Yeah.

Take as many as you want.

I'm going to pick out
all the cashews.

Okay, then.See ya.

I talked to Matthew Marroquin
at like midnight last night.

He gave me so many details
about the app for the--

Oh, the app did crash.Yeah.

Okay.

[Art]
Tom, uh, Headline:

who won the caucuses,
question mark, not Iowa.

Yeah.

[laughs]
That's pretty much it.

Chances we ever get
a caucus again?

Zero.Apparently not.

Yeah.Oh well.

Like Dolores said, maybe they
should just leave us alone.

Doug.

Shot.
How about you?

Party's over.

It's not the process
that broke down.

It was the app.

You know, the main anxiety
in Iowa this year

is we're going
to screw this up somehow.

And we did.
[laughs]

It used to be, you know,

the results were always muddied
and fucked up, you know,

but... and we could
all live with it,

but with cable news, you just
can't live with that anymore.

Well, I better get
laying out pages.

All right, catch you later.

See ya.

Look at this picture.

This is democracy working.

But you know,
I'm not--

that's not to say
that we didn't have--

You know, we have
our problems, obviously.

But it's just kinda
too bad that--

that, uh, we can't be
more patient with democracy.

♪♪

So it's been
a pretty stressful, uh,

stressful time.

Very stressful.

And you know, you-- I've been
sitting here for two weeks.

It's gray and rainy and cold.

So you're locked
in the house

and you're thinking
we're losing money,

and there ain't a goddamn thing
you can do about it.

So it's really important
that we can figure out a way

not to go deep into debt while
saving the newspaper.

Our ads fell off a cliff just
like every other newspaper.

We, uh...

We-- Our advertising
was down 50% in March.

We hope that comes back,
but, you know,

most of our advertisers
were mom-and-pop stores

who are really at risk.

John said, "Well, I've just
thought about

"just shutting it down
and walking away.

I'd just like to walk away
and go fishing."

And, uh, you know,
we've both worked very hard.

And, uh-- And then just to see
it all, uh, blow up,

you just think, well, okay,
at least we got the building.

You know, we could sell that
to pay off our debt.

So... it doesn't make
a lot of sense

for us to go borrow money

when we could just walk away
from it now.

♪♪

We're thinking about doing
a GoFundMe page

to seek donations,
uh, from anywhere.

At least buy us some oxygen
until this thing clears.

You know, it just seems
like a whole different realm,

a different reality.

For this last issue,
I interviewed business owners.

They were sharing
all kinds of things.

Like, the bait guy,

some people were stealing out
of his self-serve bait machine.

Yeah.

He threatened them, that he was
going to take the wheels

off their trailer
if they kept doing that

while they were out fishing.

So I thought of
a pretty good headline.

I thought "Angler Management."

No one's even talking about
testing at this point.

So we don't know
if the virus is even here.

Um, and all we can
say is, like,

we're just closing down
for precaution.

I call a hospital up to see
if anybody's been admitted yet

for symptoms that appear
similar to COVID-19

and, well, that goes nowhere.

[Art]
If we do the right things here,
we'll be all right.

We were kind of
scolding local officials

for falling short on testing.

We're falling short
on equipment.

And we're falling short on
a clear and consistent message

from local, state,
and federal authorities.

All the meatpacking plants
around us we know

are all infected with COVID.

So we just know that there's
got to be hundreds of workers

in Storm Lake who are infected,

but they aren't testing,

and then not reporting
any cases.

How sickening it is to think
of forcing immigrant workers

who are afraid of deportation,

forcing them into a potentially
deadly workplace,

uh, without testing.
[laughs]

And, uh...

and to me, uh,
you know, there are--

there are blatant
forms of racism

and there are subtler
forms of racism,

but it's racism all the same.

[Tom]
Occasionally,
I go out to Tyson.

But, you know, all you could do

is speak to a spokesperson
in Arkansas.

I called them.
And first it starts with,

how many employees
have tested positive?

Does every employee have
sufficient PPE?

What are you doing
as far as sanitation?

That's just a constant,
constant drumbeat.

And they would get back to you
with these statements, like,

"We take this with the utmost
seriousness" and that's it.

♪♪

[Tom]
From what I understand,

there's company-wide testing
now at Tyson Storm Lake.

The problem with this is
the state-delegated

testing responsibility
to the meatpacking plants.

So there's no way we can
credibly trace

the spread of the virus
in the last several months.

It's not clear to me why Tyson
or any other meat company

is now acting as a quasi-public
health agency

and is conducting testing
on behalf of the state of Iowa.

And then it becomes
unclear to me

who owns that information,

who controls
that information,

and how selective are they

in the release
of that information.

♪♪

[Tom]
We were the first ones to
actually, like, come to press

and say a number of Tyson
employees tested positive.

And then there was this
dramatic spike of cases
in Storm Lake.

It was just, like,
unbelievable.

We're continuing to report on
the numbers as best we can,

but we never really know
the exact count on a given day.

And that's really incumbent
upon the state department
of public health

and the governor's office,
of course,

you know,
to enlighten us on that.

But, you know,
they haven't responded

to a single email of mine.

[Art]
Now Storm Lake is
the hottest spot in Iowa

and one of the top ten
in the country.

They decided late last week

to shut down
the Tyson Pork Complex

for a few days at least
for cleaning

after these test results showed

that over 20% of the Tyson
Pork Plant roster had COVID.

Come on, Peach.

Where are you?

Hey. Come here.

There's room.
There's room.

"Dear Tom, when James Madison
wrote the First Amendment

"to the Constitution,
he had you in mind.

"The reporter is the cornerstone
of an informed electorate

and a functioning democracy."

So is it one
per house then?

Yeah. Yep.One of each per house.

[Art]
"The best journalism is that
which builds communities.

You build your community by
publicizing good deeds done..."

Hey, guys.

"...by urging yourself and those
around you to do better..."

Tom!What?!

How are you?Good.

Doing good?

"...and by making certain
that your town's issues

are heard in Des Moines
and Washington."

[speaks Spanish]

"Tyranny prevails whenever
the press is not free.

Stand guard."

[speaking Spanish]

Where are you from
originally?

I was actually born
in Mexico, in Jalisco.Oh.

And then, my mother
and my two brothers,

we settled
in Storm Lake, Iowa.

I was one of
the first kids

when the ESL program
was getting started.

[Art]
"Reporters hold
about as much regard

"as the world's oldest
profession.

"But we are not professionals.

"Nobody gives us license.

We draw it from
the Constitution."

None, I did not.

[Art]
"All we have is
our own credibility,

"which is called into question

twice a week
in our circumstance."

So how's business? Uh...

Is it picking up any?

[laughs]

Yeah?

Yeah.
I don't know either.

Right on, sister.

[laughs] [laughs]

[speaking Spanish]

[Art]
"Readers decide our future,

not any branch of government."

Do you have
your press pass?

Yes, I do.

Make sure that you have
that displayed, okay?

Okay, will do.

"If you find writing is
a chore after a while,

"you're in the wrong business.

"The pay is lousy
and the hours can be terrible.

"But you can change the world
through journalism.

"That's the only good
reason to get into this trade.

"Because when you're
looking for a friend,

"remember that the dog
can't read.

"Love [you had better
check that out], Dad.

PS: Is that story done yet?"

♪♪

♪♪