Greetings, In February 2010 it was a dream – create a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization in Iowa that could advance the notion that democracy is best served by a vibrant, free press casting a critical eye while examining public matters in depth. Heading into February 2017 the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch is an established 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to in-depth investigative and public affairs reporting and being mentors to college students who want to learn how to do this kind of reporting at a high, ethical level. Our track record includes:

• Publishing more than 330 stories, many by college student journalists, since May 2010.

• Sharing 36 IowaWatch stories that were published or aired 1,389 times by 128 news outlets – most of them from Iowa – in 2015.

• Successfully airing an award-winning, statewide radio program.

• Engaging student journalists at 10 Iowa colleges and universities to do work with statewide importance and engaging, for its first time, high school journalists who produced a statewide report.

• Being part of Humanities Iowaʼs 2016 Pulitzer Prizes Campfire Initiative observance of the Pulitzerʼs 100th anniversary.

• Being invited to tell others about our work by organizations such as the Newseum Institute, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Iowa College Media Association, Iowa Broadcast News Association, Iowa Newspaper Association, New York Press Association and others.

Our mission is threefold: 1. Journalism, as public service, with in-depth, thorough and fact-checked investigative reporting of

community issues for stories, distributed free via our website and news media partners. 2. Education through working one-on-one with college students on several Iowa campuses who want

to do this kind of journalism at a high level, and with impact. 3. Sustainability through raising funds that support the people who do this independent journalism,

and spending those funds wisely.

This annual report shares our progress in the past year.

Lyle Muller, Executive Director-Editor

IowaWatch  and  its  news  partners  have  published  the  following  stories  since  Oct.  1,  2015:  

• The way Iowa students learn about climate change can depend upon teachersʼ personal beliefs. • Most Iowa schools have failed Americans with Disabilities Act compliance during inspections. • The boundaries for free speech rights get blurred sometimes on Iowa college campuses. • Concerns remain about topsoil erosion in parts of Iowa. • Iowa government fared poorly in a national transparency investigation. • Iowa repeatedly had nixed expanded access to a life-saving opiate overdose drug. • Pesticide drift poses significant risks for neighboring farms. • Some homeless veterans in Iowa still have difficulty accessing services. • Contaminants find their way into our drinking water despite treatment efforts. • And, yes, we still love our bacon, despite studies that raise health concerns.

ANNUAL REPORT

October 2016

Journalism as a Public Service

 

The Gazette (Cedar Rapids The Courier (Waterloo-Cedar Falls) The Hawk Eye (Burlington) The Des Moines Register Quad-City Times The Telegraph Herald (Dubuque) Sioux City Journal Iowa City Press-Citizen Fort Dodge Messenger Mason City Globe Gazette Storm Lake Pilot Tribune Council Bluffs Nonpareil Belle Plaine Star Press Union Ames Tribune Iowa State Daily Buffalo Center Tribune Business Record (Des Moines) Butler Co. Tribune Journal Dyersville Commercial Cascade Pioneer Calmar Courier Carroll Daily Times Herald Charles City Press Conrad Record Marengo Pioneer-Republican Dickinson County News Grundy Register Marshalltown Times-Republican Muscatine Journal Newton Daily News Red Oak Express New Sharon Sun Hampton Chronicle Juice (Des Moines) Keota Eagle The Corridor Business Journal Ogden Reporter Sheffield Press Sigourney News-Review The Graphic-Advocate The Leader (Garner and Britt) The Leader and Kanawha Reporter The Outlook (Monona) Toledo Chronicle Tama News-Herald Wright County Monitor Spencer Daily Reporter USA Today IowaColdCases.org Stateline (Pew Charitable Trust) Kaiser Health News Iowa Public Radio WMT-AM, Cedar Rapids KXIC-AM, Iowa City KXEL-AM, Waterloo KASI-AM, Ames KCYZ-FM, Ames KSOM-FM, Atlantic KROS-AM and FM, Clinton KALA-FM, Davenport KVFD, Fort Dodge KFJB, Marshalltown KMA-AM, Shenandoah KMA-FM, Clarinda KSCJ-AM and FM, Sioux City KSIB-AM, Creston WHO-AM, Des Moines KOIL-AM, Omaha KGLO-AM, Mason City WLTL-FM, LaGrange, IL KRTI-FM, Newton/Grinnell KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids KGAN-TV, Cedar Rapids KIMT-AT, Mason City InDepthNH.org Iowa Labor News InvestigateMidwest.org The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) Yahoo News TucsonSentinal.com Appleton Post-Crescent

Stories  published  or  aired:  News  outlets  

IowaWatch  story  publications  or  airings  

Stories                        based  on  IowaWatch  reports  

Editorials  based  on  IowaWatch  reports  

IowaWatch  guest  opinions  

Letters  to                                the  Editor  

Iowa  newspapers   46   156   8   5   3   4  

Radio  stations  other  than  IPR   25   1,202   46   0   0   0  Iowa  Public  Radio  network  *   13   0   3   0   1   0  

Commercial  television  stations   2   0   2   0   0   0  Other,  including  websites,  blogs   41   25   59   0   0   0  

Totals   128   1,389   118   5   4   4  *  Number  of  IPR  stations  carrying  program  on  which  IowaWatch  story  was  discussed      

The IowaWatch Connection radio program, launched on July 4, 2014, airs on 19 stations covering most of Iowa and parts of six other states. It is part of an audience engagement project started with a $25,000 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation grant through the Institute for Nonprofit News and continued after the grant expired with sponsorship support. The program, which won seven 2015 Iowa Broadcast News Association awards – three of them 1st place – for broadcast journalism excellence, is hosted by Jeff Stein.  

The IowaWatch Connection Audience Engagement Project

 

The Numbers – 2015

Our stories have been published or aired by the following this past year:

Multiple collaborations this past year with student journalists from seven Iowa college campuses (we have working relationships at 10 overall) and our usual spring semester project with Simpson College students produced important journalism. Even high school students got into the game, producing a statewide report in April 2016 with the help of IowaWatch.

Fourteen student journalists from six colleges and universities fanned out in early spring 2016 to find out whether or not students, faculty and staff thought boundaries should exist for speech on their campuses. The Newseum Institute learned about the project and invited IowaWatch Executive Director-Editor Lyle Muller and three Iowa State University students involved in the project to speak at a one-day national conference about the topic in Washington, D.C., in April 2016.

IowaWatch has forged positive relationships as mentors and editors with students at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, Buena Vista University, Simpson College, Cornell College, Drake University, Loras College, William Penn University and Mount Mercy University.

Education

First-time Reporting Experience at the Iowa Presidential Precinct Caucuses

No Consensus on Teaching Climate Change, Elite High School Team Shows

   Fourteen college student journalists from six campuses experienced their first Iowa presidential precinct caucuses as reporters on Feb. 1, 2016, filing reports on the Democratic and Republican nomination picks of Iowans attending the nationʼs first presidential precinct caucuses. Resulting stories included a statewide report, first-person accounts from each partyʼs caucuses, a story combined with reporting from the New Hampshire nonprofit InDepthNH.org and a 23-minute report on the IowaWatch Connection radio network.

Cedar Falls High Schoolʼs Hi-Line newspaper regularly was winning journalism awards when IowaWatch approached its adviser, Brian Winkel, about trying an investigative collaboration as a pilot project. Three students, (L to R) Sarah Stortz, Tana Gam-ad and OIivia Fabos Martin, produced a report showing that what students are taught about climate change varies by classroom based on teachersʼ personal beliefs. Five newspapers and KGAN CBS2 television shared their report, the Hi-Line had a story and good journalism inspired the students.

Making a difference, from Iowa college campuses to Washington, D.C.

 

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation has been a generous benefactor of IowaWatch, providing $425,000 in funding since its first grant in 2011. This support has helped our transparent 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization attract other funding from foundations, media partners and individual donors. 2016 Budget (numbers are rounded) Projected Expenses Projected Income Salaries $105,623 Foundations $ 75,500 Freelance 16,475 Media partners 12,375 Payroll taxes 8,689 Donations 6,563 Pension/deferred 651 In-Kind/Donated 1,027 Office expense 6,000 IowaWatch General operating 2,965 Connection program 10,000 Marketing 7,614 Contracts and grants 35,230 Travel 1,835 Interest 49 Conferences 2,258 Bookkeeping 1,460 Liability insurance 5,600

Total $159,171 Total $159,596 Financial Summary – IRS 990 Revenue 2015 2014 Contributions, gifts, grants $116,679 $132,765 Program service revenue 48,315 35,030 Investment income 85 140 Total revenue $160,342 $190,880 Expenses 2015 2014 Salaries and employee benefits $131,726 $132,765 Professional fees/pymt, contractors 1,547 1,106 Occupancy/rent etc. 6,075 6,440 Printing, publications, postage 254 0 Other expenses 36,640 51,179 Total expenses $176,242 $191,490 Net assets or fund balances 2015 2014 Excess or (deficit) for the year $(15,900) $ (610) Net assets/fund bal. at end of year $ 36,117 $ 48,239

We thank those who have supported us financially this past year

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation The Gazette Company Humanities Iowa Gannett Company

Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Associated Press, Faegre Baker Daniels, Fund for Investigative Journalism, Register Media, Hills Bank & Trust Co., Institute for Nonprofit News, Iowa Broadcasters Association,

Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Kansas City Press Club, KGAN-TV CBS2, KXEL radio, MidwestOne Bank, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, Provender, Iowa Freedom of Information Council, Walker Homestead, Center for Public Integrity,

Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council AFL-CIO, Carpenters Local Union 1260, Cedar Rapids Rotary, University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Ice Cube Press

Dawn Anderson, Lynn Allendorf, Gavin Aronsen, Donald Baxter, Stephen and Cheryl Berry, Jennifer Blair, Dennis Boyd, Katie Brumbeloe, Daniel Campion, John Carpenter, Tammi Craft, James Daane, Nicole Dahya, Kajsa Dalrymple, Karmen Dillon, David Downing, Anne Duggan, Frank and Gigi Durham, Carolyn Dyer, Maggie Elliott, Sonja Elmquist, Victoria Enterprise, Randy Evans, Jeff Farber, Karen Franklin, Thomas Frerichs, Janice Frey, Dean Greiner, Becky Lutgen-Gardner, John Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber-Miller, Andy and Dee Hall, Nathan Hill, Diane Heldt, Anna Hobart, Darcie Hutchinson, Jim Jacobson, David and Lynn Jansen, Madelaine Jerousek, Larry W. Johnson,Tori Jones, Erin Jordan, Anita Jung, Volha Kananovich, Jim and Julie Kearney, John and Mary Kenyon, Bob and Mary Kirby, Amy Kristof-Brown, Daniel Lathrop and Anne-Marie Taylor, Steffi Lee, Tessa Lengeling, Brad Lint, John Lohman, Shen Lu, Keith Luchtel, Jim Malewitz, Denise Malan, Meghan Malloy, Ethan and Alison Manning, Mary Mascher, Terry McGovern, Don McLeese, John McLure, Hilary McQueen, Andrew Mertens, Lindsey Moon, Brian Morelli, Lyle and Vicki Muller, Heather Mullinnix, Thomas Oates, Nicholas Petersen, David Perlmutter, Judy Polumbaum, Ryan Prahm, Elizabeth Quarles, Michaela Ramm, Elaine Rayner, Robert Rehfuss, Bill Reisinger, Lisa and Mike Rossi, Richard Schicker, Rebecca Schuchert, Paul and Annette Schulte, Ana Schuneman, David Schwartz, Steve Semken, Jim Sernoe, Kelli Shaffner, Vanessa Shelton, Clayton Shotwell, Irma Simpson, Heather Spangler, John and Mary Stefaniak, Leonard Steinbach, Alan Swanson, Cliff Thompson, Robin Tucker, Melissa Tully, Mary Ungs-Sogaard, Stephen Vlastos, Jenifer Vick, Colleen Walter, Lisa Weaver, Tom Wertz, Benjamin Westgerdes, Alecia Williams, Cori Zarek  

The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism will seek and accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations in any amount for the general support of the center’s activities. Acceptance of this support neither expresses nor implies any voice in editorial decisions beyond the broadly stated mission of investigative journalism. We expect that most gifts and grants of this type will come from foundations, organizations and individuals concerned about the future of journalism in general and the future of investigative journalism in particular. To donate: http://iowawatch.org/fundraising

The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism P.O. Box 2178 Iowa City, IA 52244-2178

Sustainability