Jeneane Beck interviewing Mark Cooper

When we consider all of the writers, news people and pundits in Iowa, there is none the author will miss more than Iowa Public Radio’s Jeneane Beck. She announced on twitter that she had taken a position as State Relations Officer for the University of Northern Iowa. The last story from Beck before the announcement was about the changing role of the Iowa lieutenant governor.  It was thorough and engaging, and different from what others with a similar story beat have been writing recently. She tweeted about how the decision to leave radio was at first excruciating, then tough, as if each progressive post on social media was helping her move toward acceptance of the change. I am a fan of her work, as were many. She will be missed.

In Des Moines last March, Beck interviewed Mark Cooper, an expert on consumer issues related to electric utilities at my request. The Iowa House of Representatives was considering a bill on nuclear power and Cooper came to Iowa to talk to legislators about rate making and the bill they were considering. She was smart, well prepared, timely and professional throughout the interview process. When I told her I was a fan and that she did great work, she demurred. The thing is she is not the only journalist to be leaving the media in Iowa.

There has been an exodus of household named reporters in Iowa. The Des Moines Register’s Dave Yepsen was the first when he became director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University- Carbondale on April 1, 2009. Charlotte Eby was next, leaving Lee Enterprises after 15 years to join Larson Shannahan Slifka Group (LS2group), a bi-partisan public relations, public affairs and government affairs firm as an account executive. And now we lose Jeneane Beck. One has to wonder when Mike Glover of the Associated Press will turn it in, as he seems of an age for retirement. Who will replace them?

The truth may be that no one will. Yes, we have James Q. Lynch of Source Media Group, O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa and Kathie Obradovich of the Des Moines Register. But along the way, the paradigm shifted. In a day of RSS feeds, iGoogle, iPads, smart phones, Kindle and Nook, user news gathering has changed forever. Instead of a revered Pantheon of reporters, we are enabled to read what is important and relevant now, without loyalties or need of specific authors. The fact that I heard of Beck’s change via twitter is emblematic of the ability to follow a hashtag or tweeter with a click of a computer button when a story is relevant to our lives.

So farewell Jeneane Beck. Best wishes from your fans whose lives have improved because of your work on Iowa Public Radio.

~ Paul Deaton is a regular contributor to Blog for Iowa.