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Iowans are invited to enjoy stories from the careers of some longtime journalists while sipping cocktails, noshing delicious food and browsing a silent auction. 

The Friday, April 12, event “Inside Scoop: The Story Behind the Story” will support reporting by the IowaWatch newsroom of Investigate Midwest. Get tickets here.

The event starts at 6 p.m. at Poindexter Coffee inside The Graduate hotel in Iowa City. 

“This is a great evening to enjoy storytelling by professionals who’ve told the stories of Iowa and the Midwest for decades,” said Erin Orr, Investigate Midwest executive director.

The speakers include: 

  • Lee Rood, investigative reporter and Reader’s Watchdog columnist, Des Moines Register
  • Dana James, founder and publisher, Black Iowa News
  • Maudlyne Ihejirika, author, retired Chicago Sun-Times Columnist/reporter, journalism and storytelling program officer, Field Foundation of Illinois
  • Randy Evans, executive director, Iowa Freedom of Information Council and a former Des Moines Register reporter/editor
  • Zachary Oren Smith, eastern Iowa reporter, Iowa Public Radio

The Graduate Hotel is located at 210 South Dubuque St. in Iowa City. 

Investigate Midwest is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides investigative reporting on agribusiness and industrial agricultural corporations. Its stories are available to other news outlets for free. IowaWatch.org was acquired as a part of Investigate Midwest in March 2022.

An intimate crowd gathers Nov. 9, 2023, for the storytelling event “Discovery in Disguise” at Poindexter Coffee in the Graduate Iowa City hotel. photo by Suzanne Behnke, Investigate Midwest

In attendance will be the IowaWatch newsroom staff, including data journalist Mónica Cordero, a Report for America corps member in Des Moines; Suzanne Behnke, digital editor in Urbandale and originally from Bremer County; and Mary Ungs-Sogaard, donor relations manager in Dyersville. Orr, who lives in Northwest Indiana, also will be on hand.

Tickets and other donations at “Inside Scoop” support investigative journalism and help train college students as part of the University of Iowa’s event planning certification program.

Investigate Midwest, also known as the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, was created in 2009 in Kansas City before moving to Champaign, Illinois, in 2012. It has won national and regional awards for its data-driven, investigative reporting.

Please contact Ungs-Sogaard at mary.ungs-sogaard@investigatemidwest.org with questions. 

The post Midwest journalists to share their ‘inside scoops’ at April 12 Iowa City event appeared first on Investigate Midwest.