Starting with their first project in 1971, Barlett and Steele specialized in systematically researching, analyzing and writing about the complex issues and institutions that profoundly affect American life. They worked together as an investigative reporting team for more than 40 years, first at the Philadelphia Inquirer (1971-1997), at Time Inc. (1997-2006), and then at Vanity Fair. Their work earned them dozens of national awards. They are the only reporting team ever to have received two Pulitzer Prizes for newspaper reporting and two National Magazine Awards for magazine work.
The Washington Journalism Review has said of Barlett and Steele that “they are almost certainly the best team in the history of investigative reporting.” James H. Dygert, in his book, “The Investigative Journalist: Folk Heroes of a New Era,” described them as “perhaps the most systematic and thorough investigative reporting team in the United States.” And Steve Weinberg, in the book “Investigative Reporting,” wrote that “(Barlett and Steele) believe people really should be treated equally, that the playing field should be level, that government should not favor one group over another, that private-sector entities should be watched as closely as the public sector.”
Barlett and Steele also pioneered in the use of reporting methods now standard in the profession. In 1972, they used a computer to analyze more than 1,000 cases of violent crime in Philadelphia. “Crime and Injustice” was the largest computer-assisted project of its time and was widely replicated by other journalists for years afterward.
Barlett (July 17, 1936 - Oct. 5, 2024) was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He attended Pennsylvania State University and served three years as a special agent with the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps. Barlett began his journalism career in 1956 as a general assignment reporter at the Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, and later held a similar position at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. In 1965, he began working as a full-time investigative reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and subsequently moved to similar positions at the Chicago Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He became an editor-at-large for Time in 1997 and later a contributing editor of Vanity Fair in 2006.
Steele was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on January 3, 1943, and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. A graduate of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, he began his journalism career at the Kansas City Times, where he covered labor, politics and urban affairs before moving to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
After 27 years as an investigative reporter at The Inquirer, he worked as an editor-at-large for Time and subsequently as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair.
Steele also has written investigative articles about the student loan crisis for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and on federal tax policies that favor the rich for the Center for Public Integrity.
He has led reporting seminars at many universities and news organizations, including the Global Investigative Journalism Network (gijn.org) and the Norwegian Foundation for Investigative Reporting (skup.no). He has been active in the premier U.S organization of investigative journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors (ire.org), since its founding in 1976, and as its keynote speaker at its 50th anniversary convention in 2025.
He has lectured on journalism at many universities and colleges, including the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University (klein.temple.edu), which in 2016 established the James B. Steele Chair in Journalism Innovation. He has been a Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University in 2009 and 2015.
Steele is also a director and treasurer of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, which supports the work of independent journalists.
“Don and Jim don't ignore rotten apples, but their passion is for writing about rotten barrels.”
— Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief of TIME Inc.
What others say about Barlett & Steele
The Barlett and Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism
The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University established the Barlett and Steele Awards in 2007 in recognition of their contribution to investigative reporting and to foster in-depth journalism by the media. Each year an independent jury reviews entries and awards gold, silver and bronze medals to journalists and news organizations ranging in size from local to international. In 2022 a new award to recognize an outstanding young business journalist was created. The awards carry cash prizes between $1,000 and $3,000.
For more information:
https://businessjournalism.org/awards/
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1981
1983
1984
1988
1989
1991
1992
1996
1998
1999
2000
2001
2004
2011
2012
2015
2023