While in New York he (with colleague Peter Spiegel) won the "Business and Finance Reporter of the Year" in the British Press Awards for 2002.
[5] Michaels occasionally provoked heated debate in Italy's media while in Milan for the Financial Times.
In particular, a front cover FT magazine story he wrote in 2007 on the enduring and archaic use of the female form in Italian media and advertising,[6] and linking that to a lack of female attainment in business and politics, created a media storm and was cited in calls for equality legislation in the Italian parliament.
Michaels left the Telegraph in 2014 and founded FirstWord, an agency that continues his work in content for non-media organisations.
[10] He has been a defender of the growing alignment of company marketing and journalism against criticism that it is endangering the independence of journalists.