Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 19, 2002

Volume 30, Number 26

Paul Steiger

'Journalists and Terrorism'
is focus of Poynter talk

Paul Steiger '64, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal who made national headlines as he pleaded with Pakistani kidnappers for the release of his colleague, reporter Daniel Pearl, will visit the campus on Wednesday, April 24, as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism.

Steiger will be the guest at a master's tea that day at 3 p.m. in Pierson College, 231 Park St. Later that afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., he will deliver the Poynter Fellowship Lecture on the topic "Journalists and Terrorism." The lecture will take place in Rm. 127 of the Law School, 127 Wall St. The public is invited to attend both events.

Following Pearl's abduction by Islamic radicals in Karachi, Pakistan, on Jan. 23, Steiger appealed for the release of The Wall Street Journal reporter in e-mails to the kidnappers. In his earliest correspondence, he asked the kidnappers to offer proof that Pearl was alive, and in latter messages, he pleaded with them to release the reporter, reminding them that Pearl could help present their views to the world.

In an e-mail on Jan. 30 Steiger wrote, "In this life, there are things that we can change and things that we cannot. Neither Danny nor I can change the actions of governments. What we can change is the understanding of each other's cultures and perspectives. We can improve that understanding. ... I propose that you view Danny as a messenger. I propose that you provide Danny a detailed list of the issues and grievances that are important to you. I further recommend that you carefully explain your ideas and beliefs so that he fully understands them and can articulate them to others. With this information, Danny can appear before the world when released and provide your group with the unique and unprecedented opportunity to tell the entire world your point of view."

Following Pearl's murder, Steiger expressed the shock and sadness of The Wall Street Journal staff in a statement he wrote with the newspaper's publisher, Peter Kann, and read publicly on Feb. 22. "His murder is an act of barbarism," the two said. "It makes a mockery of everything that Danny's kidnappers claim to believe in. They claim to be Pakistani nationalists but their actions must surely bring shame to all true Pakistani patriots."

Steiger, who is also vice president of The Wall Street Journal, joined the newspaper in 1966 as a reporter in the San Francisco bureau. In 1968 he moved to the Los Angeles Times as a staff writer, later transferring to that paper's Washington, D.C. bureau as an economic correspondent. He became the business editor of the Los Angeles Times in 1978.

Steiger rejoined The Wall Street Journal in 1983 as an assistant managing editor in New York and became deputy managing editor in 1985. He was appointed managing editor in 1991 and was named a vice president a year later. Under his leadership, the newspaper's reporters and editors have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes, including a 2001 prize for breaking local news reporting on the terrorist attack on New York City.

Steiger personally won three Gerald Loeb awards and two John Hancock awards for his economics and business coverage. The National Press Foundation awarded him the 2001 George Beveridge Editor of the Year Award for qualities that produce excellence in the media. A Dow Jones representative on the board of SmartMoney and SmartMoney.com, Steiger also serves on the Pulitzer Prize board. He is coauthor of the book "The '70s Crash and How to Survive It," published in 1970.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established in 1971 by newspaper mogul Nelson Poynter '27 M.A. Over the years, it has hosted visits by some of the best-known reporters, editors, broadcasters, filmmakers, columnists and critics, among others, in the news media. Poynter Fellows this year have included James Fallows, David Brooks, Gina Kolata and Tom Friedman. In addition, for the first time a group of international journalists was named Poynter Fellows; these journalists, who all cover Latin America, visited on April 18.

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Campus Notes