BY MARY ANN LOWE
UCLA Today

On the morning of Sept. 11, Managing Editor Paul Steiger and his staff at The Wall Street Journal found themselves on the front line of a terrorists' war when they were forced to flee their office located across the street from the World Trade Center. Although their workplace was in a shambles — and still is even today — they somehow managed to publish a paper the next day.

That demonstration of unfailing leadership by a top journalist made Steiger the unanimous and nearly instantaneous choice of 14 judges, drawn from top-tier print and broadcast media, for the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prestigious honor of the Gerald Loeb Awards for business and financial journalism, presented annually by The Anderson School.

Each year, Anderson staff convene volunteer judges representing the most influential publications and broadcast networks in the nation to select the most outstanding work published or broadcast by journalists who made significant contributions to the understanding of business, finance and the economy during the last calendar year.

That the bar is set exceptionally high is no mystery. Among this year's final judges were Lou Dobbs, CNN host of "Moneyline"; Steve Forbes, president and editor-in-chief of Forbes; John Hillkirk, managing editor of USA Today; John Huey, editor of Fortune; Mark Morrison, managing editor of BusinessWeek; and Allan Sloan, Wall Street editor of Newsweek. Adding to this blue ribbon panel are editors from The New York Times and The Washington Post and a consultant from ABC News.

Steiger, himself a longtime Loeb Awards final judge, left the room, as is customary, during deliberations in the category in which his newspaper was a finalist. When he returned, he was astounded to find that this articulate panel with strong opinions that always make for lively exchanges had unanimously chosen him for a lifetime achievement award.

"This is a unique moment in time, and it is particularly appropriate to acknowledge Paul's part in it," said longtime fellow final judge Mary Anne Dolan, former editor of the now defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner. "His strong focus and good-humored determination to move forward have been a bright beacon for all of us to follow." Steiger also agreed to speak at Anderson's commencement.

The Anderson School has presented the awards program since 1973 and manages every aspect, from the call for entries and selection of judges to the culminating presentation ceremony.

"We greatly value the relationships we are able to cultivate with industry leaders through our association with the Loeb Awards," said Dean Bruce G. Willison, a final judge and chairman of the Loeb Foundation. "They are among the powerful decision makers who shape the content of what we read, see and hear in the media."

Gerald Loeb, founding partner of E.F. Hutton, created the awards as his legacy in 1958. He spent his life giving investment advice and felt the best way to protect the individual investor was to encourage quality business and financial reporting to keep the general public informed.

Loeb's cause is reflected in the mission statement of Newsweek's Sloan, recipient of the 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award, who sees it as his responsibility to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

Other winners of the 2002 Loeb Awards were to be announced June 24 in New York.