By BERNARD VOGELSANG
Alumni News staff
Jim Risser likes to give as well as to receive Pulitzer Prizes.
Risser won two Pulitzers in the 1970s, and he believes that experience was a major factor in his being elected to a nine-year term on the Pulitzer Prize board in 1990. The 18 board members elected him co-chairman of the board in July.
Risser is happy to be involved in awarding the prizes.
“It’s nice to reward good journalistic work and see how the prize influences the career of the winners,” Risser said.
The prizes he won in the ’70s had a big influence on Risser’s own career, he says.
Risser had worked nine years for The Des Moines Register in 1973 when he decided to take a year away from the job for a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University.
During that year, Risser had the opportunity to study American history and political science. At the same time, he pondered how to become a better journalist. He decided to do more quality and in depth journalism. “I became a better and more educated journalist,” Risser said.
Three years later, Risser won his first Pulitzer Prize for disclosing large-scale corruption in the American grain exporting trade. “Winning a Pulitzer was one of the reasons I was promoted to Washington bureau chief of The Register in 1976,” Risser said.
Risser won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for a series of articles illustrating farming’s negative effects on the environment. “That I had won two Pulitzer Prizes was an important reason for Stanford University to offer me the job as director of John S. Knight Fellowships,” Risser said. He left The Register for Stanford in 1985.
Risser became involved in the Pulitzer Prize organization as a juror in 1985 and 1986. The 89 jurors select three finalists in 21 categories every year. The board awards one prize in each category.
Dean Emeritus R. Neale Copple said Risser was a good choice for co-chairman of the board because he won two Pulitzer Prizes himself. “Jim is an excellent writer and a brilliant reporter,” Copple said.
Risser enjoys having to read the books and articles that are nominated for Pulitzers. Although it takes a lot of time to read 15 books and the articles from 42 journalists, Risser sacrifices his free time without a complaint. He said he believed the Pulitzer Prize rewarded good American work.
“The Pulitzer Prize plays an important role in keeping up good journalism,” Risser said.
Risser said it’s possible a journalist could receive a Pulitzer next year for covering the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. He agrees, however, to a certain point with the people who criticize the press coverage of the affair. “Very early in this affair too many articles were based on a lack of knowledge and on anonymous sources. More recently, the coverage has become better, but it is too excessive,” Risser said.
Although Risser has become co-chairman of the Pulitzer board, he said people shouldn’t put too much emphasis on that. The board elected him co-chairman because his term expires in April.
“The big deal is becoming a Pulitzer Prize Board member. Becoming co-chairman is a question of surviving,” Risser said.