Chris Reason
 |
Chris Reason | |
|---|---|
 Reason and wife Kathryn in 2012 | |
| Born | Chris Reason 1 October 1965 Australia |
| Occupations | |
| Employer | Seven Network |
| Spouse | Kathryn Robinson |
| Children | 2 |
Chris Reason (born 1 October 1965[citation needed]) is a journalist, foreign correspondent and news anchor for the Seven Network Australia.
He has been with the network for more than three decades, starting as Crime Reporter at Channel Seven in Brisbane in 1990 and going on to serve as European Correspondent, then London Bureau Chief, and is today the network’s Chief Reporter
He has been won six Walkley Awards,[1][2][3] two Logies,[4][5] numerous Kennedy Awards[6] and the Graham Perkin ‘Australian Journalist of the Year Award’.[7] It was the first of three times he was a finalist as “Australian Journalist of the Year”.[8][9]
Reason has reported on a range of national and international news events[10] including the September 11 terror attacks, the Boxing Day tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He covered the deaths of Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II; the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump; the coronation of King Charles; and the transitions of four Popes – John Paul II, Benedict, Francis and Leo.
He's previously hosted of all of Seven’s major news programs including Sunrise, Weekend Sunrise, the Morning and Afternoon News and the flagship 6PM bulletin.
Career
[edit]In 1986, after undertaking work experience with The Redland Times he was offered his first fulltime reporting role, while finishing a Bachelor of Arts.
He moved to the Brisbane metropolitan newspaper The Daily Sun, as Crime Reporter in 1987. He then moved to television in 1989, accepting a job with QTQ Channel Nine Brisbane as Gold Coast reporter. In 1990 he moved to BTQ Channel Seven Brisbane as Crime Reporter.
During his first year at Seven News he unwittingly covered a segment now infamously known as the Democracy Manifest video, which became an Internet viral video years later.[11] In 2019, The Guardian called it "perhaps the pre-eminent Australian meme of the past 10 years".[12]
In 1992, Reason was posted to London as Seven’s European Correspondent. A year later he was made London Bureau Chief. In four years in the Bureau, he covered the ongoing conflicts in Israel, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, and the collapse of the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. He also covered the 1993 Ashes Cricket Tour, 1995 Rugby League World Cup and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.[10]
In 1996, he returned to the Seven Sydney newsroom as Network Correspondent.
In 2002, he was announced as co-host of the re-launched national breakfast program Sunrise alongside Melissa Doyle. But in September, Reason was diagnosed with cancer and forced to retire from the program while he underwent six months of chemotherapy, surgery and recovery care.[13] He was replaced by David Koch. The cancer was an abdominal metastasis of the testicular cancer he had fought four years earlier. Reason had missed a critical health check-up in 2001 while covering the 11 September terror attacks in the United States, and he says it almost cost him his life. In multiple interviews since, he has warned young men to never miss a health check-up.[13]
In 2003, after his recovery, Reason had multiple roles—first as presenter of Seven Morning News, and then presenter of Sunday Sunrise in 2004. In 2005, he was named co-host of Weekend Sunrise alongside Lisa Wilkinson, but he was later replaced by Deal or No Deal host Andrew O'Keefe. Reason then returned to full-time reporting.
In 2014, Reason covered the Lindt Café siege, which occurred directly opposite the Seven’s Sydney newsroom in Martin Place.[14] The offices were evacuated by Police, but senior cameraman Greg Parker and then Reason were allowed back inside the building to sit beside the police sniper position and report on the unfolding siege. They were the only news crew in the country allowed beyond police lines.[15]
The coverage earned Reason all four of Australia's top journalism prizes - the Walkley,[3] Kennedy,[6] Logie[5] and the Graham Perkin ‘Australian Journalist of the Year[7]’.
Personal life
[edit]Reason attended Villanova College in the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo and the University of Queensland (BA). He married journalist Kathryn Robinson in 2005.[13] They became parents to twins[13] in 2007. His father died from brain cancer in 2006.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ "Chris Reason". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ Gorman, James (17 November 2022). "The 67th Walkley Awards winners announced". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ a b "Chris Reason". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ "Australian Television: 2000 Logie Awards". www.australiantelevision.net. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ a b "Logies 2015: full list of award winners". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ a b "Media Week - Kennedy Awards winners 2015". www.mediaweek.com.au. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ a b "2014 Perkin award winner Chris Reason". Melbourne Press Club. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ "49th Perkin Award – Finalists". Melbourne Press Club. 27 February 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ Laidlaw, Kyle (28 February 2025). "7 NEWS team recognised with four Quill Award nominations". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ a b The Press Files | The Press Files: Reporter Chris Reason www.7News.com.au #TDE7 #7News | By 7NEWS Sydney | Facebook. Retrieved 12 June 2025 – via www.facebook.com.
- ^ Drevikovsky, Janek (8 March 2020). "'This is democracy manifest': Mystery star of viral video found at last". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- ^ Naaman Zhou (30 December 2019). "From iSnack2.0 to Tony Abbott's onions: the best Australian memes of the decade". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Dasey, Annette (2 September 2013). "Chris Reason survived cancer and the death of his father, ten years on he is counting his blessings". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1998 at 33
- ^ "Lindt Cafe siege remembered 10 years after terrifying images beamed around the world". ABC News. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ Chris Reason: Terror on the Ground – Lindt Café Siege, 26 January 2021, retrieved 12 June 2025