Steinle began reporting in local radio in Ohio, and was a reporter and producer at WBZ-TV and WCVB-TV in Boston. He reported from Saigon and Hong Kong as a foreign correspondent for Group-W radio from 1969–1974. During this period he won an Overseas Press club citation for reporting from Vietnam and produced a television documentary on rural China. Subsequently he was a TV news director in Syracuse and in Seattle, and was president of UPI, Data Broadcasting Corp., and the Financial News Network. He is married to Sara Brown, Ph.D., a consultant in organizational development, and they live with their dog, Tallula, in Ashland, Ore.