Winner of the Iowa Safe Schools Spirit Award for Outstanding Media Coverage

At a time when rumors, lies and misinformation fly far faster around social media than actual facts, Iowa Starting Line is working to keep Iowans informed with important context on the stories that impact your life.

We work to cut through the online disinformation and half-truths to provide quality coverage from credible sources by our experienced team of Iowa-based editors and reporters. Our local journalists care deeply about these issues because we call this state our home.

At Iowa Starting Line, we believe in:

• A living wage for a hard day’s work: Iowa is well-known for the crops it grows, but just as important is what we build and produce. From farm machinery to wind turbines to avionics systems to bridges and roads, in factories, packing plants and small workshops across Iowa, we make what runs America. And our workers should be rewarded for their labor with good wages and benefits, not lied to or pitted against each other by politicians who don’t respect them.

• A quality education for all families: Iowa has long been respected for its world-class public schools—heck, it’s what represents us on our state quarter. To maintain that, we need classrooms that are free from political interference, educators who are respected and well-paid, and united communities where parents, students, and school staff work together to raise our future generations.

• An Iowa that’s representative of all Iowans and not just a chosen few: We make sure we’re uplifting the voices of many Iowans too often left out of the prevailing narrative of our state. Everyone’s experience matters here. Our goal is to ensure Iowans often targeted and hurt by policy decisions have access to the information they need to understand what’s at stake and decide who has their best interests at heart.

• A strong democracy: Access to the ballot box is essential for Iowans to have a say in how our state is run. A strong electorate is also an informed electorate, and one not divided by fear and lies.

We know not everyone has the time to read a dozen in-depth articles about every topic, so we break down our coverage into quick explainer pieces, infographics, engaging videos and more, all delivered to you in the social media feeds you already spend time in every day. And our articles are always free to read.

Starting Line was founded by Pat Rynard in January 2015 and joined Courier Newsroom in 2021. The organization built its reputation on political journalism in Iowa and brings its same passion and energy to reporting on how major state and national issues impact Iowans in their local communities.

Our Team

About Courier Newsroom

Iowa Starting Line is owned and operated by Courier Newsroom, a civic media company with soon-to-be 10 state-based newsrooms. Our mission is to protect and strengthen our democracy through credible, fact-based journalism that seeks to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America.

We reach audiences who are not regularly engaging with civic information, and who are unlikely to subscribe to paywalled journalism. As part of that effort, we deliver much of our reporting on the social platforms our readers use most frequently.

Courier’s newsrooms practice independent, point-of-view journalism. Courier Newsroom is a public benefit corporation owned by Good Information Inc., and is supported by reader contributions, sponsors, philanthropic donations, and corporate underwriting. We maintain an editorial firewall between our newsrooms and underwriters, sponsors, and donors. We do not accept funding from any national or state political party, party committee, candidate, or campaign.

See Courier’s website for additional information about our national team and our funding model.