Shai Oster


Shai Oster is an American journalist and a former Asia bureau chief for The Information, a technology news site. He formerly worked at The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek.
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Early life and education

Oster was born in Jerusalem. He received his B.A. in history from Columbia University in 1994 and a master's degree in Journalism from the Columbia School of Journalism in 1998.

Career

He has won several awards in more than a decade as a journalist in China, Europe, and the U.S., writing about a broad range of economic, business and social issues. Before joining The Wall Street Journal's China Bureau, Oster covered OPEC for Dow Jones Newswires in London. He previously served as Beijing bureau chief for Asiaweek magazine and as Beijing correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Shai was the recipient of the George Polk Award for environmental reporting and Asia Society's Osborn Elliott Award in 2008. In April 2007, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting as part of the bureau’s "sharply edged reports on the adverse impact of China's booming capitalism on conditions ranging from inequality to pollution."

Three Gorges Dam reporting

He is known for his reporting on the Three Gorges Dam. Oster reported details regarding environmental problems with the dam and impacts on Chinese citizens living within affected areas along the banks of the Yangzee River including 1.4 million people forced to leave their homes by the government. Specifically, he noted that the Chinese government intended to displace a further 4 million people, a claim that sparked controversy, others claiming the resettlement plan was only tangentially related to the dam.

Personal life

He lives in Hong Kong, China with his wife, Alisha Alexander. Oster speaks Hebrew, French, Mandarin Chinese and English.

Awards

Oster has won numerous awards in the US, Europe and Asia for reporting across a broad spectrum of topics from Saudi Arabia's economic and energy issues to inequality and the elite in China. These are some of his more prominent honors.