Richard Read
Encyclopedia
Richard Read is a Pulitzer Prize
-winning American
journalist
and a senior staff writer for The Oregonian
newspaper in Portland, Oregon
.
, Scotland
and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, Read graduated from Amherst College
in 1980 and worked for a Massachusetts crime commission before moving to Portland, Oregon
to become a reporter for The Oregonian
.
In 1986, Read received a fellowship from the Henry Luce Foundation, which sent him to Bangkok, Thailand, to work for a year as a reporter for The Nation, a Thai newspaper. Read moved in 1987 to Japan, where he freelanced for The New York Times
, The Christian Science Monitor
, Euromoney and the Yomiuri Shimbun
. Read became the first foreign correspondent for a Pacific Northwest newspaper when he opened The Oregonian’s Asia Bureau in Tokyo
in 1989. He served on the board of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
. He returned to America in 1994.
In 1996-1997, Read was a Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University
. He reported in Peru in 1997 as an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow.
in 1999 for a series that dramatized the global effects of the Asian financial crisis through the movement of a container of french fries
from a Washington-state farm to a McDonald's
restaurant in Singapore
. The series also received the Overseas Press Club
award for best business reporting from abroad, and the Scripps Howard Foundation award for business reporting, and the Blethen award for enterprise reporting.
In 2000 he received the Oregon governor’s award for achievement in international business, and in 1999 and 2002 he was named the state’s international citizen of the year. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Willamette University
.
In 2001, he was one of four reporters on a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
in 2001 for stories on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
. The team also received the Bruce Baer award for investigative reporting, the Unity Media Award and the American Immigration Lawyers Association media leadership award.
In 2008, Read was a member of a team named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
. He won a 2008 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism bronze award for a story on Amsterdam, and received an award for best coverage of economic and business issues from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. He won first-place awards for reporting on social issues (2001,2005), business (1998, 2004), spot news (1997), education (1990) from the Pacific Northwest Society of Professional Journalists. In 2011, he won first place for Best of the West business and financial reporting.
, a full-immersion language elementary school in Portland. Read lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon
.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and a senior staff writer for The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
newspaper in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
Early life
Born in St AndrewsSt Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Read graduated from Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
in 1980 and worked for a Massachusetts crime commission before moving to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
to become a reporter for The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
.
In 1986, Read received a fellowship from the Henry Luce Foundation, which sent him to Bangkok, Thailand, to work for a year as a reporter for The Nation, a Thai newspaper. Read moved in 1987 to Japan, where he freelanced for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
, Euromoney and the Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...
. Read became the first foreign correspondent for a Pacific Northwest newspaper when he opened The Oregonian’s Asia Bureau in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in 1989. He served on the board of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan was started in 1945 to provide infrastructure for foreign journalists working in Post-World War II Japan. Historically, the club has been located in the area around Ginza....
. He returned to America in 1994.
In 1996-1997, Read was a Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He reported in Peru in 1997 as an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow.
Awards
Read won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory ReportingPulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation...
in 1999 for a series that dramatized the global effects of the Asian financial crisis through the movement of a container of french fries
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
from a Washington-state farm to a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
restaurant in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The series also received the Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
award for best business reporting from abroad, and the Scripps Howard Foundation award for business reporting, and the Blethen award for enterprise reporting.
In 2000 he received the Oregon governor’s award for achievement in international business, and in 1999 and 2002 he was named the state’s international citizen of the year. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...
.
In 2001, he was one of four reporters on a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service has been awarded since 1918 for a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources. Those resources, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics,...
in 2001 for stories on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
. The team also received the Bruce Baer award for investigative reporting, the Unity Media Award and the American Immigration Lawyers Association media leadership award.
In 2008, Read was a member of a team named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation...
. He won a 2008 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism bronze award for a story on Amsterdam, and received an award for best coverage of economic and business issues from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. He won first-place awards for reporting on social issues (2001,2005), business (1998, 2004), spot news (1997), education (1990) from the Pacific Northwest Society of Professional Journalists. In 2011, he won first place for Best of the West business and financial reporting.
Other work
From 2007-2008, he was president of the Board of Directors of The International SchoolThe International School
The International School is an independent elementary school in Portland, Oregon that educates children to be world citizens. TIS provides true immersion in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese with native-speaking teachers. Children age 3 through 5th grade become fluent in another language,...
, a full-immersion language elementary school in Portland. Read lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
.