Joe Stephens is an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and holds the Ferris professorship in journalism at Princeton University. He is a native of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and attended

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

. He was an investigative projects reporter at ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' before joining the ''Post'' in 1999.

Notable investigations

Among Stephens most important investigative reporting series are pieces about

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

's business dealings and "The Body Hunters", about multinational pharmaceutical testing scandals in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. In 2011, Stephens and his Post colleague Carol D. Leonnig revealed in a series of stories how the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

pressed to approve a $535 million federal loan to

Solyndra Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells. It was based in Fremont, California. In 2009, the Obama administration co-signed $535 million in loans to Solyndra. Heavily prom ...

, a

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

manufacturer whose leading investors were tied to a major Obama fundraiser.

Academia

Stephens was a visiting 2012 Ferris Professor of Journalism at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He was appointed to the Ferris professorship in residence at Princeton in 2014 In 2018, he helped found Princeton's first formal Program in Journalism, and became its inaugural director.

Awards

Stephens has won more than a dozen national honors, including three

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

s: the 1998 Polk Award for Legal Reporting (while at the ''Star''), the 1994 Polk Award for Political Reporting (also with ''The Kansas City Star'') and the 2005 Foreign Reporting Award with David B. Ottaway (while at ''The Washington Post''). According to ''The Washington Post'', Stephens has written three series that were

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

finalists. Stephens has won top awards from the Overseas Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors, among others. He shared the 2004

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

for Large Newspapers with David B. Ottaway. With ''Washington Post'' colleague Lena H. Sun, Stephens was a 2010 finalist for the

Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting is an award for journalists administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The program was launched in 1991, with the goal of exposing examples o ...

for their "Death on the Rails" series. Stephens had been a finalist twice before. He shared in an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative TV reporting out of Afghanistan. Stephens has been a judge or juror for many journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. He is a director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

References

External links

Profile
at ''

''
Profile
from the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management (branded as UCLA Anderson) is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school offers MBA (full-time, part-time, executive), Post Graduate Program for Executi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Joe Living people Miami University alumni American male journalists George Polk Award recipients The Kansas City Star people The Washington Post people Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers Year of birth missing (living people)