- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- David Yepsen
David Yepsen
Host of "Iowa Press" on Iowa Public Television
Biography
David Yepsen is the host of Iowa Public Television’s weekly “Iowa Press” public affairs program.
Prior to that, he served as director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 2009 to 2016. He also had a 34 year career with the Des Moines Register, serving as the paper’s chief political writer, political editor and political columnist, covering Iowa and presidential campaigns from 1976-2009.
In 1989 he was a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2008, he was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard where he led a study group on the nation’s presidential selection processes.
He is a native of Jefferson, Iowa and is a 1972 graduate of the University of Iowa. He has also done graduate work in journalism and mass communication at Iowa State University and in 1985 earned a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) degree from Drake University.
In his book about his 1988 presidential race, the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon praised Yepsen’s objectivity. “Every four years the chief political reporter for the Des Moines Register becomes the most important reporter in the nation,” he said. “It is a position that could cause vanity and abuse. To his credit, David Yepsen handled this position with sensitivity and balance. And he worked hard.”
Seminars
“Campaign Journalism 101”
What does it take to be a political reporter? Politics is the only game for adults. Preparing for the seminar series and fashioning a news diet. We’ll talk about how to be a better consumer of political news and websites of value. Is local journalism collapsing? Finally, finding role models: who was David Broder and what is shoe leather journalism?
What does it take to be a political reporter? Politics is the only game for adults. Preparing for the seminar series and fashioning a news diet. We’ll talk about how to be a better consumer of political news and websites of value. Is local journalism collapsing? Finally, finding role models: who was David Broder and what is shoe leather journalism?
Whether it’s a presidential campaign or a race for city council, how do you build a template for your coverage and that of your news organization? The case for horse race journalism. The case for issues. Planning your coverage. Talking to voters. Polling voters. Use and abuse of polls. Covering debates.
This seminar will look at political reporting through an Iowa lens. How local reporters in Iowa become important to the national campaign story - before they turn back into pumpkins after the caucuses. We’ll discuss the making of media events. Spin. Expectations, games and how candidates “win” Iowa and other primary contests.
Special Guest: Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa (1999-2007) & U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (2009-2017)
What is watchdog journalism? Fact-checking – how to do it and why it’s important. Social media. Doing “ad watches.” We’ll also discuss the evolution of campaign advertising, from early ads like Johnson’s Daisy ad and 1988’s Willie Horton ad. YouTube and Facebook messaging.
This seminar will examining Russian influences in 2016 and bots and trolls in 2018. What can journalists do to protect American democracy?
Special Guest: Natasha Korecki, National Political Correspondent for POLITICO
How is media used to set policy and shape public opinion? How can reporters get coverage back on track? Money and politics and covering campaign finance. Can digital dollars counter PACs and rich donors?
In this seminar we’ll discuss confronting your own biases and building your own journalistic moral compass. How do you combat gender and racial biases in coverage? And we’ll look at how split-second decisions by reporters can change coverage - and history.
Special Guest: John McCormick, Money & Politics Reporter for Bloomberg
We’ll wrap up with a discussion of how inertia keeps Iowa and New Hampshire first in the nation. Everyone seems to hate Iowa's caucuses but no one can agree on an alternative. What might the future hold for campaigns and how they are covered?