Chances are you have never heard of James B. Steele and Donald Barlett.  They are not bloggers, or pundits.  They rarely appear on television.  They are, in the best sense of the word, investigative journalists who spend months crafting painstakingly written and researched articles and books on subjects ranging from corporate welfare and the inequities of federal tax law to what's wrong with our health care system.  

That reporting has garnered them two Pulitzer Prizes and two national magazine awards, and countless other journalism citations.  At annual conventions of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the two were mobbed like rock stars.  Indeed they are so revered that just last month, Arizona State University  created the Barlett and Steele awards to honor outstanding investigative business journalism.

However, their careers are a very good parable about an increasingly profit-driven mass media and its ebbing commitment to fact-based investigative journalism.