Long Time Staffer Leaves The Cedar Rapids Gazette for Non-Profit

Lyle Muller, the editor of the Gazette, will step down from his position to become the executive director of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, or IowaWatch.

After 25 years at the Gazette, Muller said he decided to leave to pursue the sort of investigative and explanatory journalism that IowaWatch, a non-profit, specializes in.

"I love the process of discovery and telling people what’s been discovered in a way that they understand so they have the power to make decisions of their own," Muller told IowaWatch.

Muller has served as a reporter, Johnson County bureau chief, Iowa City editor, investigations and special projects editor and senior editor, before being named editor in 2009, according to the Gazette.

Muller will officially leave his position as editor April 20 and will start with a $80,000 salary, according to the Gazette.