The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Formed through the development and merger of several 19th century newspapers, it began publishing under its current name in 1915. The paper came under the ownership of the publisher and holding company Gannett in 1985. It won its first Pulitzer Prize in 1924, and has since won 16 more, with the most recent coming in 2018 for editorial writing.

History

Early period

The first newspaper in Des Moines was the Iowa Star. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

In 1854, The Star became the Iowa Statesman which was also a Democratic paper. In 1857, The Statesman became the Iowa State Journal, which published three times per week. On June 15, 2013, the Register moved to its new location of 400 Locust Street.

The Indianapolis Star became the sister publication of the paper after it also came under Gannett ownership.

In 2019, the Register switched from two print editions - a State and Metro edition - to one edition statewide.

The Register came under scrutiny in September 2019 after uncovering a pair of controversial tweets made by Carson King, a 24-year-old Iowa man whose beer sign on ESPN College GameDay resulted in over $3 million in contributions to a children's hospital. King was 16 at the time of the posts. According to Carol Hunter, the paper's executive editor, the Register elected to include the information toward the end of a story about King. "Reasonable people can look at the same set of facts and disagree on what merits publication. But rest assured such decisions are not made lightly and are rooted in what we perceive as the public good," she explained after receiving complaints from readers. Some readers later found social media comments previously made by the reporter, Aaron Calvin, which contained racial slurs and condemnation of law enforcement. The Register defended its decision and announced that they would launch an investigation into the "inappropriate social media posts" made by a staff member, though it did not name anyone involved. On September 27, the Register announced that Calvin was no longer employed by the newspaper. Calvin later wrote an op-ed in the Columbia Journalism Review blaming Gannett and the Register for what he considered to be an "unfair" firing.

Starting March 12, 2022, the Register moved to a six day printing schedule, eliminating its printed Saturday edition.

In October 2022, the Register was discovered to have provided commercial printing services to a "pink slime" media client, Local Government Information Services, which the Columbia Journalism Review described as publishing "multiple misleading, decontextualized, and often nonfactual stories on hot-button issues in Illinois".

On December 16, 2024 President-elect Donald Trump filed suit against the Register citing violation of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act due to their publication of Ann Selzer's Iowa presidential election poll, which resulted in a 16 point error. The newspaper's vigorous fight against the suit won the admiration of other journalists: the Columbia Journalism Review said "the paper has remained resolute" in spite of the capitulation of larger media companies like Paramount during the 60 Minutes deceptive editing lawsuit.

Editorial philosophy

In the three decades before the Cowles family acquired the Register in 1903, the newspaper was a "voice of pragmatic conservatism". However, Gardner Cowles Sr., who served as a Republican in the Iowa General Assembly, was a delegate to the 1916 Republican National Convention, and served in the administration of President Herbert Hoover, was an advocate of progressive Republicanism.

During the Cowles family's ownership, the Registers editorial page philosophy was generally more liberal in its outlook than editorial pages of other Iowa newspapers, but there were notable exceptions. The publishers strongly supported Republican Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign against Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. The newspaper also supported Republican Dwight Eisenhower's campaigns for the Republican nomination and general election in 1952, and again in 1956. Hubert Humphrey in 1968, and Jimmy Carter in 1976, it endorsed Richard Nixon in 1960

The paper was a severe critic of George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping strategy and claimed that in doing so, "President Bush has declared war on the American people."

In December 2007, two weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, the Register endorsed Hillary Clinton (in the Democratic caucuses) and John McCain (in the Republican caucuses). In October 2008, it endorsed Barack Obama for president in the general election.

In 2011, 24 days before the 2012 Iowa caucuses, the newspaper endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the Republican caucuses. The Register endorsed Romney over Obama ten days before the general election on October 27, 2012, the first time that it supported a Republican for president since 1972.

On July 24, 2015, the newspaper announced that it had been denied press credentials to cover a Donald Trump presidential campaign family picnic in Oskaloosa, Iowa, because of an editorial the previous week that had called on Trump to drop out of the race.

On January 23, 2016, it endorsed Republican Senator Marco Rubio for the GOP nomination and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic candidate.

On October 13, 2018, the Register endorsed all Democratic candidates standing for the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections and stated that Republicans have "failed to govern".

On January 25, 2020, the newspaper endorsed Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren for her party's presidential nomination.

Register and Tribune Syndicate

In 1922, Gardner Cowles' son John launched the Register and Tribune Syndicate. At its peak, the syndicate offered other newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist Herblock and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others. The cartoons and comic strips included Spider-Man. Will Eisner's The Spirit was part of a 16-page Sunday supplement known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". This was a tabloid-sized newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. The most successful comics feature was The Family Circus, eventually distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers. In 1986, the Register and Tribune Syndicate was sold to Hearst and the King Features Syndicate for $4.3 million.

Columnists and notable journalists

Brianne Pfannenstiel was selected chief politics reporter for the 2020 United States presidential election and co-moderated the seventh Democratic debate with Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip on January 14, 2020.

Rekha Basu was a Register opinion columnist for over 30 years.

iowa Columnist Courtney Crowder has been at the paper for over a decade. The senior writer was also a co-director of the RAGBRAI documentary.

Former columnist Rob Borsellino authored the book So I'm Talkin' to This Guy... ().

Steve Deace started his career as a sports reporter at the Register.

Bloomberg's Senior White House Reporter Jennifer Jacobs was formerly Chief Political Reporter at the Register.

Former staffer and Storytellers coach, Lisa Rossi, who had two stints at the paper went on to have a career in stand-up comedy.

Sports editor and columnist Bryce Miller worked at the paper for a decade before spending the rest of his career at The San Diego Union-Tribune.

John Naughton covered high school sports for 31 years.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson worked at the paper for over 50 years. in 2023, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Football Writers Association of America. The Iowa Cubs named their press box at Principal Park after him in August 2024.

Awards

The Register has won 17 Pulitzer Prizes:

  • 6 for National Reporting: 1954, 1958, 1968, 1976, 1979, and 1985
  • 4 for Editorial Writing: 1938, 1943, 1956, and 2018
  • 3 for Editorial Cartooning: 1924, 1943, and 1963
  • 1 for Photography: 1952
  • 1 for Feature Photography: 1987
  • 1 for Breaking News Photography: 2010
  • 1 for Public Service: 1991

Register photographer Robert Modersohn was one of four finalists for the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for a selection of photographs the jury described as unusual.

Register writer Clark Kauffman was one of three finalists for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his exposure of glaring injustice in the handling of traffic tickets by public officials in Iowa.

Editorial writer Andie Dominick was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for her series of editorials on Iowa's job licensing laws, and later won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize.

INA Awards

Additionally, the publication won the Newspaper of the Year Award, bestowed by the Iowa Newspaper Association, for seven consecutive years from 2012 to 2019. The paper has also won hundreds of individual INA awards throughout its storied history. In February 2024, Carol Hunter received the Master Editor award for her 20 years in Iowa journalism.

Gannett Greatest Awards

Yearly, Register staffers have the option of submitting their work to be reviewed for potential corporate awards. The paper has won dozens of Gannett Awards.

Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, Register Sports Awards, People to Watch and Storytellers Project

The Register sponsors the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.

The paper also held its own Sports Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding high school athletes from 2016 to 2021. The Awards were discontinued in 2022 due to lack of sponsorship but returned in 2024 with Scheels as the primary sponsor. The awards were also renamed the Iowa High School Sports Awards and currently take place at the Iowa Events Center downtown.

Beginning in 2011, the paper started the annual People to Watch series at the end of each year. 15 people are selected across the state and profiled throughout the month of December. Readers also have the option to submit potential nominees as well. Over 200 individuals have been featured thus far.

Also in 2016, the Register started the triannual Storytellers Project. The series was conceived in September 2015 and is modeled after a similar event held by The Arizona Republic. Anyone can be a potential speaker for the event as long as they have a compelling story. Over 250 individuals have spoken for the series held at Hoyt Sherman Place. The recurring event was put on hiatus from mid-2020 to mid-2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar events are also held by the Austin American-Statesman and The Tennessean.

References

Further reading

  • Friedricks, William B. Covering Iowa: The History of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, 1849–1985 (1991).
  • Juice's website
  • Des Moines Metromix
  • Iowa Newspaper Association
  • America's Best Buy: The Louisiana Purchase (Register and Tribune Syndicate comic strip)<!--placing here since it has no separate article yet--> at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.