Art Cullen is the editor and co-owner with his brother John of the Storm Lake Times Pilot, a weekly newspaper in that Northwest Iowa county seat — a town of about 12,000.

In 2017, Art won the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for “editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise, and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa.”

To my eyes, he looks a lot like Mark Twain, which called to mind that writer’s quip, “Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”

I suspect a good deal of what is both powerful and persuasive about Art’s work is that it’s clear he finds his readers entirely worthy of the truth. That they –we!– can handle the truth.

Indeed, we must. 

Photo by Tom Wallace.  Used with permission of Art Cullen.