COLUMBIA, Mo., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Paul Steiger, The Wall Street
Journal's longest-serving managing editor, will receive the 2007
Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of American Business
Editors and Writers Inc. (SABEW) at its 44th annual conference in Anaheim,
Calif., May 22.
    Steiger will be honored for decades of service to the Journal, the
nation's top business newspaper, and his tireless dedication to ensuring it
remains relevant in a rapidly changing media landscape. He will step down
later this year.
    "In many ways, The Wall Street Journal has set the bar for high-quality
and innovative business journalism," said Orange County Register columnist
Jonathan Lansner, head of SABEW's committee that decided the honor and
SABEW's immediate past president. "And Paul, as its newsroom leader,
deserves this award because too many mornings his product made many of us
say to ourselves, 'Why didn't I think of that?'"
    Steiger, 64, has overseen dramatic redesigns of the Journal, additions
of popular new sections to broaden readership, plus a push of breaking news
to the Web. On his watch, Journal's reporters and editors have won 14
Pulitzer Prizes.
    He led his staff as it mourned correspondent Daniel Pearl's kidnapping
and murder just a few months after the Journal was forced from its offices
near the World Trade Center after Sept. 11. After the twin towers
collapsed, Steiger and others gathered at a Manhattan apartment of Journal
colleague and friend Barney Calame to ensure a well-written and
comprehensive paper hit stands the next day. The work won several awards.
    It was "both a sad and terrifying day, but it was also a day where I
was so proud of my colleagues," Steiger said.
    He joined the Journal in 1966 as a reporter in the San Francisco
bureau. Two years later, he switched to the Los Angeles Times as a staff
writer and, in 1978, he became business editor.
    Five years later, Steiger rejoined the Journal as an assistant managing
editor in New York and later was promoted to deputy managing editor in
1985. He became managing editor in 1991. The European and Asian Journal's
editors and news staffs began reporting to him in 2002 and the Journal
Online followed four years later.
    "He's really smart and he is straightforward. He's extremely honest and
that relates not only being a good journalist but to being a good manager,"
Calame said. " ... He knows when and how to compromise without giving up
fundamental principals. He has a sense of humor and ability to laugh.
That's really important. Things can get really serious in business
journalism."
    Steiger is the 17th business journalist to receive the SABEW
Distinguished Achievement Award since it was launched in 1993. Other
winners include Calame, now The New York Times' public editor, Stephen B.
Shepard, former BusinessWeek editor in chief, Cheryl Hall of The Dallas
Morning News and Myron Kandel of CNN.
    SABEW is a 501(c)(3) education organization representing more than
3,200 journalists from its base at the Missouri School of Journalism.
Formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events
and issues, it is the only business journalism association for editors and
writers. Its 2007 annual conference will be held at the Disneyland Hotel in
Anaheim, Calif., May 20-22.
    For more information, contact:
    Carrie Paden
    Executive Director
    Society of American Business Editors and Writers
    Missouri School of Journalism
    387 McReynolds Hall
    Columbia, MO 65211-1200
    Ph 573-882-7862
    padenc@missouri.edu

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