Before founding ProPublica, a non-profit news organization, Paul was the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal (from 1991 to 2007). During his tenure, members of the Journal’s newsroom staff were awarded 16 Pulitzer Prizes. Also, ProPublica reporters received Pulitzer Prizes in 2010 and 2011. Paul is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 
He is a trustee of the Knight Foundation, which funds efforts to enhance journalism and the functioning of American communities. From 1999 to 2007, he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, serving as its chairman in his final year, and from 2005 to 2011 he was the chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Other awards include the Columbia Journalism Award, the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism from Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center, the Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and the American Society of News Editors Leadership Award. Previously Paul worked as a reporter, economics correspondent and the business editor for the Los Angeles Times, and as a reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal.