Des Moines Biz Record editor Behnke to lead IowaWatch

Suzanne Behnke

Des Moines Business Record editor Suzanne Behnke has been hired to lead the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, or IowaWatch.

A story on the Cedar Valley Business Monthly website states, “Behnke comes to IowaWatch from the Des Moines Business Record, where she has been an editor and contributor since May 2017. She also is a journalism and communications instructor at Simpson College in Indianola.

“Behnke, a native Iowan, has a long news reporting and editing history in Iowa. She was a reporter, copy editor and page designer at the Courier from 1997 to 2000 before joining the Des Moines Register staff. In two stints, from 2000 to 2008 and again from 2012 to 2017, Behnke served the Register in management roles, including as front page editor, state editor and an online editor.

“Behnke earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Wartburg College in Waverly in 1997 and a master’s degree in public administration from Drake University in 2010.

“IowaWatch is the state’s leading collaborative investigative nonprofit news organization. Founded in 2010, IowaWatch trains future journalists to write high-quality investigative and explanatory news stories offered for free to Iowa news outlets. IowaWatch publishes stories at IowaWatch.org, produces the IowaWatch Connection radio program and hosts public forums on topics including methamphetamine addiction and free speech on college campuses.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.