Reuters executive editor Gina Chua has received the Impact Award from the Online News Association.
The Impact Award honors a trailblazing individual whose work in digital journalism and dedication to innovation exhibits a substantial impact on the industry. The ONA Board of Directors selects honorees regardless of their tenure in journalism.
Chua was named executive editor of Reuters in April 2021. Previously she was global managing editor of operations, managing editorial operations, budgets, administration, safety and security for a 2,300-person newsroom; she works closely with the data journalism and graphics teams, and with the technology and R&D teams to build newsroom capabilities and tools. At Reuters, she created the award-winning Connected China project, and drove development of its social media verification tool, Tracer.
Here’s a look at a few of her accomplishments over the past 30 years.
Innovation in visualization
Chua spearheaded an interactive multimedia project for Reuters called Connected China. The app combines deep research and social network analysis to map political power in China.
As Editor at the South China Morning Post, she developed several online resources:
CitizenMap, a crowd-sourced hub that allowed readers to report and explore the extent of environmental damage in Hong Kong.
Who Runs Hong, an interactive database that visualized and revealed relationships, backgrounds and ties among Hong Kong’s elite.
People-focused
Chua led the graphics team at the Wall Street Journal and was integral in recruiting top talent to build a robust, award-winning interactive graphics team at Reuters.
As a newsroom manager, she has mentored numerous journalists and helped them develop their careers. She has been especially dedicated to supporting journalists interested in graphics, data and innovation.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chua was responsible for procuring massive amounts of protective gear, including thousands of N95 masks from around the world, to distribute to colleagues. She developed protocols for staff to follow when covering hospitals and events to ensure safety.
Dedication to the future of journalism
Chua has served as a board member of the Institute for Nonprofit News and several other nonprofit news organizations.
Chua is currently working on the Tiny News Collective, an initiative to provide tools, resources, and know-how to help people build sustainable news organizations that reflect and serve their communities.
She speaks frequently at international conferences on sustainability, business models, innovation and technology.
Chua writes about ways to rethink and restructure the business of journalism on Structure of News.
Chris Roush
Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.