Joe Stephens is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

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

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and attended

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

. 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. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

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

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. In 2011, Stephens and his Post colleague Carol D. Leonnig revealed in a series of stories how the Obama administration 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 based in Fremont, California. Heavily promoted as a leader in the sustainable energy sector for its unusual technology, Solyndra ...

, a solar panel 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 research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. 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 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 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 of ...

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, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

{{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)