Boom-Time Reporter

New York Times Writer David Barboza (CAS'90) Wins Hugo Shong Award

By Meghan Noé

SPH's Jonathan Howland has been studying how heavy drinking affects the minds of college students on the morning after.

Hugo Shong presents David Barboza with the award check. Photo by Patrice Flesch

The Chinese economy is booming, and David Barboza, economic correspondent for the New York Times in Shanghai, is reporting on market changes from the heart of the boom. In recognition of his work, the College of Communication has awarded Barboza (CAS'90) this year's Hugo Shong Journalist of the Year Award for reporting on Asian affairs.

"I'm fortunate to have one of the best journalism jobs you could imagine," says Barboza. "For nearly twenty years I thought about working as a foreign correspondent, perhaps for the New York Times and perhaps in China, and now it's here and I'd like to make the most of this opportunity. I'd like to help readers get a better understanding of China and the dramatic transformation now under way here."

The award, which was established by Shong (COM'87, GRS'92) in spring 2005, is presented annually to a print journalist who during the previous year displayed outstanding reporting on Asian issues. The articles must be published in an English-language newspaper or news magazine.

Barboza, a writer for the Times business section since 1997, has been its business and culture correspondent in China for the last two years. While there, he has covered what he characterizes as "one of the great building booms in modern times."

"The Chinese economic boom is arguably the most important business story, and David is at the head of the pack, writing with gusto and insight about crucial questions that are facing the country," says Barboza's New York Times editor Sheryl WuDunn, who nominated him for the Hugo Shong prize. "His work rises above the rest because he tackles tough, major issues and then tells a story by knitting together telling details with explanations and real people, showing how the market is changing China."

A class Barboza took at BU, Reporting the Revolutions: China and Vietnam, inspired him to become a foreign correspondent in China, he says. Shong, who is Chinese, was the teaching assistant for the class.

"Right now, if you're interested in business, there's no better place to be in than China, and in this job, basically I have the freedom to roam the country and look into almost any industry," says Barboza.

As for the $15,000 that accompanies the award, Barboza says, it's not his to spend. "My wife is Chinese and she says that in China women handle all the money in the family, so I'm obligated to hand it over."

Shong also endows the annual $30,000 Hugo Shong Lifetime Journalism Achievement Award, presented first to ABC's Ted Koppel in November 2004 and to Miami Herald managing editor Tom Fiedler (COM'71) the following year.