Critical Race Theory in Iowa: An Analysis of the Des Moines Register’s Coverage

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the Des Moines Register’s coverage of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the controversy surrounding its teaching in Iowa’s primary schools during the time period of 2020-2021. The Des Moines Register is Iowa’s main newspaper with a circulation of approximately 100,000 readers. The debate around the introduction of teaching ‘The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story’ and critical race theory curricula in schools was primarily covered for the paper by one reporter, Ian Richardson. The state government banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory and other “divisive concepts” in government diversity trainings and classroom curricula. The methodologies of discourse analysis, framing, and the theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory was used to analyze 38 articles and examine the newspaper’s coverage of the debate as well as the subsequent ban of these topics from being taught in K-12 schools. The analysis will evaluate how the topic was framed and discussed primarily by Richardson, whose news reports dominated the sample studied here, and by extension of his employment, the Des Moines Register news organization. Findings will be contextualized within a broader context of teaching of Critical Race Theory curricula in public K-12 schools.