Charles A. Barthold
West 1969
On June 13, 1976, photojournalist Charles A. Barthold filmed a tornado that destroyed the town of Jordan, Iowa. The footage was unique in that it showed one powerful tornado passing by, as well as the spawning of another. The film, along with independent documentation on the ground, proved that anti-cyclonic storms can occur in the northern hemisphere.
Barthold’s footage proved to be scientifically important and earned him the prestigious George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award in1976, just three years after he graduated from Iowa State University. Since then, Barthold has continued to report on people and events by using the same forthrightness and sound news judgment that he demonstrated that day in an Iowa cornfield, 100 yards away from a powerfulF5 tornado. Another F5 tornado did not occur in Iowa until 2008.
Barthold began his career in journalism in 1973 at WHO-AM, FM, TV in Des Moines, first as a part-time jack-of-all-trades, and later going full-time as a news photographer with reporting duties. He was later named chief news photographer. At the Des Moines station, he produced, photographed and edited several notable productions, such as “The Jordan Tornado: One Year Later,” which includes an extensive interview with Dr. Theodore Fujita, creator of the Fujita scale that meteorologists use to determine the intensity of tornadoes. Other productions on which he worked include “The Friendship Force: Des Moines– Dublin” and “The San Francisco Zephyr: A Train About to Die.”
Since 1979, he has covered the news as a photojournalist at KARE-TV in Minneapolis. In 2004-05, he won an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy for his work on the “KARE 11 News at 5” program. He also photographed the documentary, “Mission of Mercy,” in which he followed a medical team to the Thailand-Cambodian border where refugees were awaiting aid.
Barthold has earned many other awards, including honors from the National Press Photographers Association for spot news (Region 5 Regional Quarterly Television News Clip Contest, third quarter; first place). He also was runner-up for the association’s Region 5 Photographer of the Year award (1977). During the mid-1980s, he served as a regional chairman and later national chairman of the National Press Photographers Association’s Regional Quarterly Television News Clip Contest. He received the Morris Berman Citation for service to the NPPA’s TV Clip Contest.
Since 1976, Barthold has volunteered many hours of service at Iowa State University, both as an advisor to KPGY-FM and as a guest lecturer at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communications.
Barthold also has volunteered at the Minnesota Transportation Museum since 1995, including serving for two years as chairman of the board of trustees. From 2004-2006, he was a board member of the Northwest Iowa Railway Historical Society. Since 2005, he has held the position of merchandising manager for the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. He is restoring his own private rail car, The Aristocrat, which was built in 1946.
In 1973, Barthold graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in journalism and communications, as well as a B.S. in speech (telecommunicative arts).