James B. Steele

James B. Steele
James B. Steele
Born	January 3, 1943 (age 78); Hutchinson, Kansas
Occupation	Investigative journalist, non-fiction writer
Notable credit(s)	The Philadelphia Inquirer, Time, Vanity Fair, books:Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes (with Donald L. Barlett), Forevermore: Nuclear Waste in America (with Donald L. Barlett), America: What Went Wrong?(with Donald L. Barlett), America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? (with Donald L. Barlett), America: Who Stole the Dream (with Donald L. Barlett), The Great American Tax Dodge (with Donald L. Barlett), Critical Condition (with Donald L. Barlett).
Spouse(s)	Nancy Steele
Website	http://barlettandsteele.com/index.php

James B. Steele (born January 3, 1943) is an American investigative journalist and author. With longtime collaborator Donald L. Barlett he has won two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Magazine Awards and five George Polk Awards during their thirty five years of service at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Time, and Vanity Fair. The duo are frequently referred to as Barlett and Steele.

Biography[]

Steele was born in Hutchinson, Kansas and was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and began his career at the Kansas City Times, where he covered politics, labor and urban affairs. In 1970 he joined The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he would begin his collaboration with Barlett.

In a 1972 collaboration for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Steele and Barlett pioneered the use of computers for the analysis of data on violent crimes.^{[citation needed]} Their story, "Auditing the IRS," earned them a Gerald Loeb Special Award in 1975.^[1]^[2] Twenty years later, they co-authored the series America: What Went Wrong? for The Inquirer, which was named as one of the 100 best pieces of journalism of the 20th century by the New York University School of Journalism. Rewritten into book form, became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. It is one of seven books Steele and Barlett have published. In 1989, he and Barlett won the Pulitzer Prize and the Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers^[1] for their reporting on the Tax Reform Act of 1986.^[3]

Barlett and Steele left The Philadelphia Inquirer to become editors-at-large at Time Inc. in 1997. While at Time, they won two National Magazine Awards, the first in 1999 for their three-part series, “What Corporate Welfare Costs You," and the second in 2001 for their three-part series in 2000 on campaign finance.^[4]

In 2006 Barlett and Steele left Time and were hired by Vanity Fair to be contributing editors on the understanding that they would contribute two articles each year.^{[citation needed]} They were available for this new assignment after Time determined that they had insufficient space for the time of long journalistic investigations.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, Barlett and Steele were featured in the PBS documentary series, Exposé: America's Investigative Reports, in an episode entitled "Friends In High Places."

In January 2017, it was reported that CNN, as part of "a major new initiative in investigative reporting," was hiring Steele along with fellow Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Bernstein as contributing editors, "to advise the team on their work and executives on hiring."^[5]

Steele is married and has a daughter. His sister Lisa Steele is a video artist living in Canada.^[6]

Published works[]

Books[]

Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1979). Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-00025-7.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1985). Forevermore: Nuclear Waste in America. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-01920-9.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1992). America: What Went Wrong?. Andrews and McMeel. ISBN 0-8362-7001-0.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1994). America: Who Really Pays the Taxes?. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-87157-9.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996). America: Who Stole the Dream?. Andrews and McMeel. ISBN 0-8362-1314-9.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2000). The Great American Tax Dodge: How Spiraling Fraud and Avoidance are Killing Fairness, Destroying the Income Tax, And Costing You. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-81135-1.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2004). Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business — and Bad Medicine. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50454-3.

Newspaper articles[]

Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-10). "How the Influential win Billions in Special Tax Breaks". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-10). "The Tax Chairmen Fail to Respond to Queries". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A14.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-10). "A Rich Texas Widow Could Save $4 Million". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A15.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-11). "A Millionaire Businessman and his Island Tax Shelter". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-11). "A Tax Favor for Backer of Conservative Causes". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A07.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-12). "How Businesses Influence the Tax-Writing Process". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-13). "Disguising Those who get Tax Breaks". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-13). "Investors take over a Vital Atomic Plant a Tax-Saving Strategy Develops". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A10.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-14). "Congress can't add, so the Taxpayer pays". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-14). "The Wall Street star who Started Catalyst Energy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A18.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-14). "A $4 Billion Price Tag to Stop a Nuclear Plant". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A19.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-15). "One Firm's Huge Break". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-16). "Cruising, at Taxpayers' Expense". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-04-16). "A Big Bailouts for Steel Firms with the Assistance of Heinz". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A07.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-09-25). "The Tax-Break Sweepstakes". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-09-25). "The Tax War Between the Chickens and the Pigs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A17.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-09-26). "Family Football Seeks Bonus Through Tax Bill". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1988-09-26). "A Historic Hotel and its Quest for a Tax Cut". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1990-11-04). "A Tax Increase for the Rich that's no Increase at all". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.

"America: What Went Wrong?"[]

Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-20). "How the Game was Rigged Against the Middle Class". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-20). "Who -- and how many -- in America's Middle Class". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A16.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-20). "After 3 Decades, American Worker Loses out to Mexico". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A17.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-21). "The Lucrative Business of Bankruptcy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-22). "Big Business Hits that Jackpot with Billions in Tax Breaks". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-23). "Why the World is Closing in on U.S. Economy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-24). "The High Cost of Deregulation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-25). "For Millions in U.S., a Harsh Reality". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-25). "How Death came to a Once-Prosperous Discount-Store Chain". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A21.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-26). "Raiders work their Wizardry on an All-American Company". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-27). "When you Retire, Will There be a Pension Waiting?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-27). "Workers Saving for Their Retirement Lose on Junk Bonds". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A17.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1991-10-28). "How Special Interest Groups have their way with Washington". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1992-02-02). "The Politics of Tax Breaks in an Election Year". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.

"America: Who Stole the Dream?"[]

Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-08). "How U.S. Policies are Costing America Jobs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-08). "Why the Series Came to be". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A18.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-09). "Importing Goods, Exporting Jobs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-10). "Endangered Label: Made in the USA". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-11). "The "New" American Worker". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-12). "The Burden of the Working Woman". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-15). "Shortcut to U.S. Jobs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-16). "Say Goodbye to High-Tech Jobs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-17). "The Lobbying Game: Influence-Brokers in D.C.". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-18). "One American Industry that Thrives: Retraining". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1996-09-22). "A Nation in Search of Answers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A01.

Magazine articles[]

Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-09). "States at War". Time. Archived from the original on January 12, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-09). "Corporate Welfare". Time. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-16). "Fantasy Islands". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-23). "Sweet Deal". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-23). "Paying a Price for Polluters". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-30). "The Empire of the Pigs". Time. Archived from the original on October 23, 2006.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1998-11-30). "Five Ways Out". Time. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2000-02-07). "How the Little Guy Gets Crunched". Time. Archived from the original on November 16, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2000-02-07). "How to Become a Top Banana". Time. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2000-05-15). "Soaked By Congress". Time. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2000-09-25). "Throwing the Game". Time. Archived from the original on June 11, 2001.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2002-12-16). "Who Gets the Money?". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2002-12-16). "Wheel of Misfortune". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2002-12-23). "Playing the Political Slots". Time. Archived from the original on January 23, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-02-03). "The Really Unfair Tax". Time. Archived from the original on October 26, 2004.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-05-19). "The Oily Americans". Time. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-05-19). "Iraq's Crude Awakening". Time. Archived from the original on May 20, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-07-21). "The U.S. is Running Out of Energy". Time. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-10-13). "The Great Energy Scam". Time. Archived from the original on October 26, 2004.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2003-10-13). "Asleep at the Switch". Time. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2004-02-02). "Why We Pay So Much for Drugs". Time. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2004-02-02). "Has Your Life Become Too Much a Game of Chance?". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2004-09-20). "Who Left the Door Open?". Time. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2005-10-23). "The Broken Promise". Time. Archived from the original on October 24, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (2005-10-31). "Where Pensions are Golden". Time. Archived from the original on October 25, 2005.
Barlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (March 2007). "Washington's $8 Billion Shadow". Vanity Fair.

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Historical Winners List". UCLA Anderson School of Management. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
^ "Royster wins Loeb Award for financial journalism". The New York Times. September 25, 1975. p. 64. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^ Smith, Rosslyn (16 August 2010). "Two Cheers for Old-Fashioned Political Scoundrels". American Thinker. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
^ "Donald Barlett and James Steele: Career Timeline". Investigating Power. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
^ Folkenflik, David (2017-01-30). "CNN Beefs Up Investigative Reporting". NPR.org. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
^ "Lisa's long haul". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-03-18.

External links[]

Don Barlett and Jim Steele's website
Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism
Terry Gross's interview about gambling on reservations with Barlett & Steele on NPR's Fresh Air (16 December 2002)
Terry Gross's interview "The Big Business of Health Care" with Barlett & Steele on NPR's Fresh Air (6 October 2004)
Exposé:"Friends in High Places" on PBS (July 2007)
Liberadio(!) Interview with Don Barlett (12 February 2007)
Appearances on C-SPAN
- In Depth interview with Barlett and Steele, January 6, 2013

[LOEB-Winners-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Historical Winners List". UCLA Anderson School of Management. Retrieved January 31, 2019.

[2] "Royster wins Loeb Award for financial journalism". The New York Times. September 25, 1975. p. 64. Retrieved February 6, 2019.

[Smith-3] Smith, Rosslyn (16 August 2010). "Two Cheers for Old-Fashioned Political Scoundrels". American Thinker. Retrieved 6 September 2010.

[4] "Donald Barlett and James Steele: Career Timeline". Investigating Power. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2017.

[5] Folkenflik, David (2017-01-30). "CNN Beefs Up Investigative Reporting". NPR.org. Retrieved 2 February 2017.

[6] "Lisa's long haul". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-03-18.

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show v t Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers
(1974–1979)	Paul Steiger (1974) Allan Sloan (1975) (1977 shared) (1977 shared) Paul Steiger (1978 shared) (1978 shared) (1978 shared) (1978 shared) (1978 shared) (1979 shared) Richard C. Longworth (1979 shared) (1979 shared)
(1980–1989)	Gaylord Shaw (1980 shared) (1980 shared) (1980 shared) (1980 shared) William J. Eaton (1980 shared) (1980 shared) (1980 shared) Bill Stall (1980 shared) (1980 shared) (1981 shared) Ted Gup (1981 shared) (1982 shared) Karen Tumulty (1982 shared) (1983) (1984) Ted Gup (HM) (1984) (1985) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) Michael Hiltzik (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) (HM) (1985 shared) Ken Auletta (1986) (1987) Daniel Hertzberg (1988 shared) James B. Stewart (1988 shared) Donald L. Barlett (1989 shared) James B. Steele (1989 shared)
(1990–1999)	David A. Vise (1990 shared) Steve Coll (1990 shared) Bryan Burrough (1991) (1992 shared) Dick Lehr (1992 shared) (1992 shared) (1992 shared) (1992 shared) Alix M. Freedman (1993) Scot J. Paltrow (1994) (1995 shared) (1995 shared) (1996 shared) (1996 shared) (1996 shared) (1997) (1998) (1999)
(2000–2009)	(2000) (2001 shared) (2001 shared) (2001 shared) Duff Wilson (2002 shared) David Heath (2002 shared) (2003) (2004 shared) Joe Stephens (2004 shared) Walt Bogdanich (2005) (2006) (2006) (2006) Charles Forelle (2007 shared) (2007 shared) Mark Maremont (2007 shared) (2007 shared) Walt Bogdanich (2008 shared) Jake Hooker (2008 shared) David Barboza (2008 shared) (2008 shared) Gretchen Morgenson (2009 shared) Peter S. Goodman (2009 shared) Charles Duhigg (2009 shared) (2009 shared) (2009 shared) (2009 shared) Jo Becker (2009 shared) Sheryl Gay Stolberg (2009 shared) (2009 shared)
(2010–2014)	Michael Moss (2010 shared) (2010 shared) (2011 shared) Russell Gold (2011 shared) Douglas A. Blackmon (2011 shared) Vanessa O'Connell (2011 shared) (2011 shared) (2012) Patricia Callahan (2013 shared) Sam Roe (2013 shared) (2013 shared) Barton Gellman (2014 shared) Laura Poitras (2014 shared) Ellen Nakashima (2014 shared) (2014 shared) (2014 shared) Ashkan Soltani (2014 shared)

show v t Gerald Loeb Special Award winners
1960s	(1966) (1968 shared) Newsweek (1968 shared) McGraw-Hill (1969)
1970s	(1970) James W. Michaels (1972) Louis Rukeyser (1973) Donald Bartlett (1975 shared) James Steele (1975 shared) (1976)
1980s	(1983 shared) Business and Financial Staff of The New York Times (1983 shared) Robert Heilbroner (1985) Los Angeles Times (1987)
1990s	(1994)

show v t Recipients of the Orwell Award
1975–1999	1975: David Wise 1976: 1977: Walter Pincus 1978: Sissela Bok 1979: Erving Goffman 1980: 1981: Dwight Bolinger 1982: , , and Rory O'Connor 1983: Haig Bosmajian 1984: Ted Koppel 1985: and 1986: Neil Postman 1987: Noam Chomsky 1988: Donald Barlett and James B. Steele 1989: Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky 1990: , Consumers Union 1991: David A. Kessler 1992: Donald L. Barlett and James Steele 1993: Eric Alterman 1994: Garry Trudeau 1995: Lies of Our Times 1996: William D. Lutz 1997: Gertrude Himmelfarb 1998: Juliet Schor 1998: Scott Adams 1999: Norman Solomon
2000–present	2000: Alfie Kohn 2001: Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber 2002: Bill Press 2004: Seymour Hersh and Arundhati Roy 2005: Jon Stewart and The Daily Show cast 2006: Steven H. Miles 2007: Ted Gup 2008: Charlie Savage 2009: Amy Goodman 2010: Michael Pollan 2011: 2012: Peter Zuckerman and 2013: 2014: The Onion 2015: 2016: 2017: 2018: Katie Watson 2019: Michael P. Lynch 2020: April Baker-Bell
National Council of Teachers of English George Orwell

show Authority control
General	Integrated Authority File (Germany) ISNI 1 VIAF 1 WorldCat
National libraries	United States Czech Republic Netherlands
Other	SUDOC (France) 1

James B. Steele
Born	(1943-01-03) January 3, 1943 (age 78) Hutchinson, Kansas
Occupation	Investigative journalist, non-fiction writer
Notable credit(s)	The Philadelphia Inquirer, Time, Vanity Fair, books:Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes (with Donald L. Barlett), Forevermore: Nuclear Waste in America (with Donald L. Barlett), America: What Went Wrong?(with Donald L. Barlett), America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? (with Donald L. Barlett), America: Who Stole the Dream (with Donald L. Barlett), The Great American Tax Dodge (with Donald L. Barlett), Critical Condition (with Donald L. Barlett).
Spouse(s)	Nancy Steele
Website	http://barlettandsteele.com/index.php