Class News

Paul Steiger '64 awarded honorary Doctorate from Columbia University

Published by ProPublica.org

April 8, 2013

Columbia University today announced that it will award ProPublica founder and executive chairman Paul Steiger with a Doctor of Laws honorary degree for his outstanding career in journalism.

The degree recognizes Steiger’s contributions to journalism during 46 years that have included stints at the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and ProPublica. During his 16-year tenure as managing editor of the Journal, its newsroom staff won 16 Pulitzer Prizes. And as the Internet undermined newspapers’ business models, Steiger fought back against the decline in investigative journalism by founding ProPublica.

Columbia’s award announcement noted that, “During a period of marked decline in reporting resources in much of the American news media, ProPublica focuses on important stories of accountability journalism. As ProPublica’s editor-in-chief, Steiger’s reporters won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to an online news organization and a second Pulitzer, which was the first given to stories not published in print.

Steiger and several others will be honored at Columbia’s commencement ceremony which takes place on May 22nd.

Congratulations Paul!