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''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
of
Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
, United States.


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 A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...
by the junction of the
Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
and Raccoon River. 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. In 1870, ''The Iowa State Journal'' became the ''Iowa State Leader'' as a Democratic newspaper, which competed with pro- Republican ''Iowa Daily State Register'' for the next 32 years. In 1902, George Roberts bought the ''Register'' and ''Leader'' and merged them into a morning newspaper. In 1903, Des Moines banker Gardner Cowles, Sr. purchased the ''Register and Leader''. The name finally became ''The Des Moines Register'' in 1915. (Cowles also acquired the ''
Des Moines Tribune The ''Des Moines Tribune'' was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the coun ...
'' in 1908. The ''Tribune'', which merged with the rival ''Des Moines News'' in 1924 and the ''Des Moines Capital'' in 1927, served as the evening paper for the Des Moines area until it ended publication on September 25, 1982). Under the ownership of the Cowles family, the ''Register'' became Iowa's largest and most influential newspaper, eventually adopting the slogan "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon". Newspapers were distributed to all four corners of the state by train and later by truck as Iowa's highway system improved.


Nationwide development

In 1906, the newspaper's first front-page
editorial cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...
, illustrated by Jay Norwood Darling, was published; the tradition of front-page editorial cartoons continued until December 4, 2008, when 25-year veteran cartoonist Brian Duffy was let go in a round of staff cuts. The ''Register'' employed reporters in cities and towns throughout Iowa, and it covered national and international news stories from an Iowa perspective, even setting up its own news bureau in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
in 1933. During the 1960s, circulation of the ''Register'' peaked at nearly 250,000 for the daily edition and 500,000 for the Sunday edition–more than the population of Des Moines at the time. In 1935, the Register & Tribune Company founded radio station KRNT-AM, named after the newspapers' nickname, "the R 'n T". In 1955, the company, renamed Cowles Communications some years earlier, founded Des Moines' third television station, KRNT-TV, which was renamed
KCCI KCCI (channel 8) is a television station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Ninth Street in downtown Des Moines and a KCCI Tower, transmitter in Alleman, Iowa, A ...
after the radio station was sold in 1974. Cowles eventually acquired other newspapers, radio stations and television stations, but almost all of them were sold to other companies by 1985. In 1943, the ''Register'' became the first newspaper to sponsor a statewide
opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...
when it introduced the Iowa Poll, modeled after Iowan George Gallup's national
Gallup poll Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and man ...
. Sports coverage was increased under sports editor Garner "Sec" Taylor – for whom Sec Taylor Field at Principal Park is named – in the 1920s. For many years the ''Register'' printed its sports sections on
peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...
-colored paper, but that tradition ended for the daily paper in 1981 and for the ''Sunday Register''s "Big Peach" in 1999. Another ''Register'' tradition – the sponsorship of RAGBRAI – began in 1973 when writer John Karras challenged columnist Donald Kaul to do a border-to-border bicycle ride across Iowa. The liberal-leaning editorial page has brought Donald Kaul back for Sunday opinion columns. Other local columns have faded and given way to Gannett-distributed material.


Under Gannett ownership

In 1985, faced with declining circulation and revenues, the Cowles family sold off its various properties to different owners, with the ''Register'' going to
Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...
. At the time of sale, only ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' had won more
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
s for national reporting. In 1990, the ''Register'' began to reduce its coverage of news outside of the Des Moines area by closing most of its Iowa news bureaus and ending carrier distribution to outlying counties, although an "Iowa Edition" of the ''Register'' was still being distributed throughout most of the state. Many of the ''Register''s news stories and editorials focus on Des Moines and its suburbs. The ''Register'' opened a new printing and distribution facility on the south side of Des Moines in 2000. The news and advertising offices remained in downtown Des Moines. After 95 years in the Des Moines Register Building at 715 Locust Street, the ''Register'' announced in 2012 that they would move to a new location in 2013, settling for Capital Square three blocks to the east. On June 15, 2013, the ''Register'' moved to its new location of 400 Locust Street. In 2014, the old building was sold for $1.6 million with plans for it to be redeveloped into a combination of apartments and retail space. ''
The Indianapolis Star } ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, whe ...
'' 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 The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
'' blaming Gannett and the ''Register'' for what he considered to be an "unfair" firing. 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.


Editorial philosophy

In the three decades before the Cowles family acquired the ''Register'' in 1903, the newspaper was a "voice of pragmatic conservatism".William B. Friedricks,
Covering Iowa: The History of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, 1849-1985
" pp. 40-44 (Blackwell Pub. 2000), .
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 Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
,Herbert Strentz,
Gardner Cowles, Sr.
" at Cowles Family Publishing Legacy, Drake University (accessed 2009-03-08).
was an advocate of progressive Republicanism. The new owners presented a variety of viewpoints, including Darling cartoons that frequently made fun of progressive politicians. During the Cowles family's ownership, the ''Register''s 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 Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee for president. Willkie appeale ...
's 1940 presidential campaign against Democrat
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
.Herbert Strentz,
Gardner (Mike) Cowles, Jr.
" at Cowles Family Publishing Legacy, Drake University (accessed 2009-03-08).
The newspaper also supported Republican
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
's campaigns for the Republican nomination and general election in 1952, and again in 1956. Although the ''Register'' endorsed presidential candidates
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
in 1964,"How Iowa Dailies See Candidates", ''Des Moines Register'', October 25, 1964 at 6-F. Hubert Humphrey in 1968, and
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
in 1976, it endorsed
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
in 1960 and 1972. The paper was a severe critic of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
'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 Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
(in the Democratic caucuses) and
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
(in the Republican caucuses). In October 2008, it endorsed
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
for president in the general election. In 2011, 24 days before the 2012 Iowa caucuses, the newspaper endorsed former Massachusetts Governor
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
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 Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...
for the GOP nomination and
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
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 Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...
for her party's presidential nomination.


Register and Tribune Syndicate

In 1922, Gardner Cowles' son
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...
launched the Register and Tribune Syndicate. At its peak, the syndicate offered other newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist
Herblock Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock (October13, 1909October7, 2001), was an American editorial cartoonist and author best known for his commentaries on national domestic and foreign policy. During the course of a career stretchin ...
and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others. The cartoons and comic strips included ''
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
''.
Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...
'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 King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...
for $4.3 million.


Columnists and notable journalists

Brianne Pfannenstiel was selected chief politics reporter for the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
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 ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
''. 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 Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...
.


Awards

The ''Register'' has won 16
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
s: * 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 Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
: 1952 * 1 for Feature Photography: 1987 * 1 for Breaking News Photography: 2010 * 1 for
Public Service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...
: 1991 ''Register'' photographer Robert Modersohn was one of four finalists for the 1976
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature recognition, could be a hole, poc ...
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 Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...
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 The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, ...
for her series of editorials on Iowa's job licensing laws,Register's Andie Dominick named Pulitzer finalist
The Des Moines Register
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. Best of Gannett 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 of 2015 and is modeled after a similar event held by ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...
''. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Similar events are also held by the ''
Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...
'' and ''
The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, w ...
''.


References

*


Further reading

* Friedricks, William B. ''Covering Iowa: The History of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, 1849–1985'' (1991).


External links

*
Juice's
website
Des Moines Metromix

Iowa Newspaper Association


(Register and Tribune Syndicate comic strip) at
Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Des Moines Register, The Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Gannett publications Freedom of information in the United States Newspapers published in Iowa Mass media in Des Moines, Iowa Newspapers established in 1849 1849 establishments in Iowa Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners