Categories: OLD Media Moves

Pulitzer-winning biz columnist responds to fan mail

Steven Pearlstein, the business and economics columnist for the Washington Post who won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday, spent some time Wednesday responding online to fan mail from readers.

“It’s a great honor and very humbling, considering all the real giants who have won this award in the past,” writes Pearlstein. “Many friends and readers have written wonderful notes, and I’m only now getting a chance to answer them, so please pardon the delay.”

Pearlstein also tells the story of why he left television for print:

“This little one comes from my former colleague, Janet Wu. We were reporters together back at the Ten O’Clock News at WGBH TV in Boston. And here’s a little story that tells you why Wu is still in television and I’m not.

“One day we go out to a diner for lunch near the station. As we are walking to our booth, an old lady calls us over very excited. ‘Janet Wu, you are my favorite reporter. I watch you every night on the Ten O’Clock News.’

“So Janet, being very polite, pulls me over and says, ‘Well, you must know my colleague Steve Pearlstein, who is also a reporter.’ And the woman replies, ‘No, never saw him.’

“Inasmuch as I was on air pretty much as often as Wu, I knew at that precise moment, I knew my on screen career would be soon coming to an end.”