Alumna Emily Steel ’06 wins 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
Less than 12 years after graduating from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a degree in journalism and mass communication and an interest in investigative and business reporting, Emily Steel ’06 on April 16, 2018, joined an illustrious list of Pulitzer Prize winners affiliated with the Hussman School.
She and New York Times colleague Michael S. Schmidt were recognized alongside other Times journalists and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker for public service reporting exposing sexual predators and “bringing them to account for long-suppressed allegations of coercion, brutality and victim silencing.”
Steel and Schmidt didn’t know one another and worked in different cities covering different subjects when they were assigned the task of re-reporting allegations of sexual harassment by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. In April 2017, they reported that five women had received payouts totaling $13 million from either O’Reilly or the company in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him. Weeks later, following an internal investigation, O’Reilly was forced out by Fox News. A tidal wave of new investigations and conversations about gender and power in the workplace followed.
In a speech at the Times’ celebration on the afternoon of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize announcements, Steel acknowledged the global impact when she said, “Women found the courage to share their stories, and the world listened. I am so humbled by this extraordinary honor and overwhelmed with gratitude.”
As an aside, editor Bill Brink told the celebrants: “Mike told me ‘Emily is the most bad-ass reporter I ever worked with, and I work in Washington.’"
“I’ve dreamed of working as a journalist ever since I was a little girl,” Steel told Hussman School Dean Susan King in an October 2017 Start Here / Never Stop Podcast episode.
“Emily Steel’s reporting on sexual harassment in the media helped bring the issue to light and raise public awareness of the depth and breadth of a serious problem that affects far too many women in the workplace,” said King. “Her persistent pursuit of the Bill O’Reilly lawsuit story exemplifies the power of courageous journalism to serve the public good. Her stories raised the larger issues and exposed people and institutions that are acting outside of legal and ethical bounds and doing harm to individuals, businesses and our culture.”
Fellow Times reporter and Hussman School grad Sapna Maheshwari ‘09 remembered her first year at East Lyme High School in Connecticut, when she looked up to senior Emily Steel at the school newspaper, whom she’d known as her older sister's friend since the fourth grade. Maheshwari and other colleagues worked the Times’ media desk Monday to help with coverage of the Pulitzers.
“It’s really special for me that someone I looked up to, who was a mentor when I first moved to New York, has gone from a mentor to a friend to a peer,” Maheshwari said. “I’m so genuinely proud. Today is the first time I ever teared up at work, but it’s totally OK. She gave her speech — both of her parents and her fiancée were here — and it was so wonderful and moving to hear her talk and get this recognition, and to know that she will become an inspiration and role model for so many other young women.”
As a Carolina undergraduate, Steel was an editor at The Daily Tar Heel and studied investigative and business reporting alongside political science. Ozy.com editor Daniel P. Malloy ’07 remembered Steel as his first year editor at the DTH.
“Already as a sophomore, it was clear she was the star of the place,” he said.
He remembered her in-depth coverage of the chancellor and the student body president’s race and tuition hikes.
“She’s an incredibly kind person,” he added. “She’s soft-spoken. She has this high-pitched voice. As a source, I imagine that it almost lulls you into a sense of complacency. Maybe Bill O’Reilly underestimated her — but she’s just a bulldog.”
Chris Roush, Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at the Hussman School, has similar memories of a quiet but doggedly persistent student reporter, who was relentless about a story and, if stymied, would figure out another way to get what she needed to uncover the truth. Roush said, “[Steel] was a well-rounded journalist when she got here as a student. We just refined her skills and pointed her in the right direction.”
During her 2017 conversation with King, Steel attributed the success of their reporting to months and months of digging through documents and seeking sources who would go on the record while focusing on and following the story.
“Every day, I make a to-do list. A lot of it is really old-fashioned,” Steel said. “Nothing really replaces talking to people on the phone; meeting them in person; really getting a feel for the stories.”
Steel last visited Carolina to serve on a Holding Power Accountable panel in February 2018 that brought together reporters and researchers who have covered prominent sexual misconduct cases and who have navigated difficult ethical, legal and political issues. The Hussman School established “Holding Power Accountable” workshops in 2009 to provide aspiring investigative journalists with inspiration and coaching.
Asked if Steel might have imagined a Pulitzer Prize in her future back at East Lyme High School, Maheshwari didn’t have to think long about it.
“No. She didn’t imagine a moment like this. She’s always been extremely humble. Something that best sums her up is a sign that reads ‘What good shall I do this day,’ which sits on her desk,” Maheshwari said. “It’s how she approaches her journalism. It’s always about following the facts and shedding light on dark places. She told me that was one of the things that drew her to journalism originally is the idea of shining a light on dark places.”
Photo © 2018 Sharon Suh