The New York Times was awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which recognized "the work of David Barstow and Lowell Bergman that relentlessly examined death and injury among American workers and exposed employers who break basic safety rules.

"[5] In 2009, Barstow received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for "his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

"[10] "Courts have long recognized that reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary newsgathering activities without fear of tort liability — as these actions are at the very core of protected First Amendment activity," wrote New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed.

[10] Soon after the team received the prize, it emerged that Barstow had alienated his colleagues by attempting to enter into an agreement to ghostwrite a book with one of their most secret sources, which would be a violation of the Times' ethical guidelines.

Several subsequent New York Times stories about the Trump family's finances appeared under the bylines of Craig and Buettner, but not Barstow.