Executive Director of IowaWatch to Speak About Challenges Facing Journalists at Leaders Speak Series Event
William Penn University
(OSKALOOSA, Iowa) – Executive director and editor of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs (IowaWatch), Lyle Muller, will present “Who’s Watching Out For You” on Wednesday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the Musco Technology Center on William Penn University’s campus. Muller’s presentation will cover the threats that exist in the aftermath of dramatic cuts in the number of reporters, how traditional media is reorganizing as new media emerges, and how to create engaging journalism in the United States. Muller will be the second installment of the 2016–17 Leaders Speak Series.
“One of the really important facets of a university is it should be a site of multiple ideas, even competing ideas and the school should bring experts, knowledgeable professionals and accomplished people from different areas to the campus so that there is an outreach and opportunity for students to meet and hear others’ ideas; this Leaders Speak Series is providing just that,” said Dr. Noel Stahle, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty.
Muller currently serves as the first executive director and editor of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs, a nonprofit news organization founded in 2010 to produce investigative reporting in collaboration with other media as a public service, and to train college students to conduct high quality and ethical reporting. Muller joined IowaWatch in May 2012 after serving as editor of The Gazette newspaper of Cedar Rapids. He held several reporting and editing positions during his 25 years at The Gazette, among them being editor of the Iowa City Gazette, a zoned edition of The Gazette in 1999–2003, and leading investigative and special projects. Muller served as the senior editor on a team that provided coverage of an Iowa flooding disaster, which won The Gazette a national Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists for deadline reporting in 2008.
Muller is also the reporting coach for The Daily Iowan’s Ethics and Politics Initiative project and a member of the Iowa Newspaper Association Government Relations Committee, Iowa High School Press Association Board of Directors, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION). His reporting experience in a career spanning 42 years also includes working as a staff reporter at the Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Daily Iowan and in radio and television news. He is a University of Iowa graduate with a degree in communication studies.
The Leaders Speak Series is an annual initiative that reaches out to the community with diverse leadership-based themes. This year there are six scheduled speakers that will expand on this year’s theme: “Regenerate: planting ideas for generations.” The theme focuses on motivating students and community members to become more active and be a part of the changes they want to see, whether that is in their own lives or in the community.
The event is free and open to the public and can also be streamed online at www.wmpenn.edu/leaders.
