Risser, James V.

Jim Risser has distinguished himself as an investigative reporter, an environmental reporter and as a leader in efforts to improve the quality of modern journalism.

Risser was a reporter for the Des Moines Register for 20 years, and was its Washington bureau chief from 1976 to 1985. During that time he won numerous journalism honors, including two Pulitzer Prizes for National Reporting. His first Pulitzer, in 1976, was awarded for stories exposing corruption in the U.S. grain exporting industry, which led to criminal convictions and reform legislation. His second Pulitzer, in 1979, was awarded for a series of stories showing the destructive impact of modern American agriculture on the environment. His other honors include two Thomas L. Stokes Awards for environmental reporting, the Edward J. Meeman Award for conservation reporting, two Raymond Clapper Awards for Washington reporting, and the American Political Science Association Award for distinguished reporting of public affairs.

In 1985, Risser was named director of the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists at Stanford University, a mid-career sabbatical program for outstanding print and broadcast journalists from the United States and abroad, a position he held until his retirement in 2000. He had been a Professional Journalism Fellow at Stanford in 1973-74. As a member of the Stanford faculty, Risser also taught in the Department of Communication's graduate journalism program.

Risser was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1990 to 1999. He currently serves on the Journalism Advisory Committee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, on the Steering Committee of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and is a member of the Gridiron Club of Washington, Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. From 2000-2003 he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Wallace Stegner Initiative, a project of the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, and he served as a judge for the Institute's report, "Matching the Scenery: Journalism's Duty to the American West." He is a member of the boards of directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and of Jefferson Public Radio, in Ashland, Oregon, and he serves on the Southern Oregon University Advisory Board.

In addition to his stories for the Des Moines Register, he has written on environmental issues for several newspapers and magazines, and he continues to write on news media issues for journalism publications. In 2001, he co-authored a study for CNN analyzing television's failures in reporting the results of the 2000 presidential election.

Risser is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and the University of San Francisco Law School, and practiced law in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska before turning to journalism in 1964. He and his wife, Sandra Risser, live in Ashland, Oregon. They have two sons, David, of Salem, Oregon, and John, of Ashland.

- January 2005


bio and photo courtesy Stanford University