Tabuchi wins Nash Award for biz reporting from NY Times

New York Times business reporter Hiroko Tabuchi was honored with the Nathaniel Nash Award at a luncheon Friday.

Nash was a Times business reporter killed 20 years ago in a plane crash on assignment in Croatia. Tabuchi has covered such topics as the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Takata airbag crisis.

Nash’s widow and their three children (and one spouse) joined many from The Times — including executive editor Dean Baquet — at the luncheon.

In an email to the staff, Baquet wrote:

Hiroko, who moved to New York from Tokyo two years ago, has demonstrated her versatility and mettle both domestically and internationally. She was on the team that won the Pulitzer for explanatory journalism for coverage of Apple and its overseas operations, and she was also on the award-winning auto-safety team that delved into problems at General Motors and elsewhere.

Her ongoing coverage of the Takata airbag recall — now one of the largest consumer recalls in American history — has been both trailblazing and nuanced. She was the first to reveal that Takata was aware of the problem of exploding airbags many years ago, but did not raise a general alarm.

In her five years in Tokyo for BizDay, Hiroko covered the tribulations of the Japanese economy, and was also a frequent contributor to the international report. Her brave coverage of the tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant is a particular standout.

Beyond her exemplary journalism, Hiroko is revered across the newsroom for her collaborative spirit, collegiality and teamwork. Those are qualities that were also central to Nathaniel’s journalism.

Past winners of the award include David Carr, David Barboza, David Leonhardt, Mary Williams Walsh, Keith Bradsher, and most recently, Nelson Schwartz and Andy Pollack.

There is a photograph of Nash, and a plaque honoring past winners, on the second floor of the Times by the BizDay area.