The 1964 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

CITATION for Richard Garrett Wilson and Kayser Sung

Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 1964, Manila, Philippines

Within the past decade the Far Eastern Economic Review has become the most consequential journal of its kind in Asia. Providing detailed and increasingly dependable information on trade, finance, economic problems and progress, and related political trends, it has earned regard as valued reading among businessmen, government officials and scholars.

In most of Asia, the objective careful economic reporting and analysis that is vital to development is both a new and difficult craft. Statistics often are incomplete and occasionally unreliable. Preoccupation with politics in the era of new independence has sometimes led to ignoring the hard realities of economic life upon which material achievements must be based. Private businesses and governments are often reluctant to permit probing inquiry.

Despite these and other obstacles the editors of the Far Eastern Economic Review, RICHARD G. WILSON and KAYSER SUNG, and their staff produce each week a journal that is setting a standard for critical but fair examination of the complex spectrum of economic affairs. With their 40-odd colleagues in Hong Kong and 20 correspondents in Asia and the West, this editorial team, since 1960, has also published a Yearbook that is proving a reliable reference source for industrialists studying markets and government planners charting investments.

RICHARD G. WILSON came to the Review as editor in 1958. Trained both in law and journalism in England and the United States, he chose to apprentice on the Financial Times of London to specialize in economic journalism. Well-traveled and scholarly, his particular interests are the problems in Africa and Asia of telescoping economic and social advance into a short span of time.

KAYSER SUNG, who joined the Review in 1959 as Deputy Editor after 12 years with Reuters, mastered his profession during the hard years in wartime China. He was appointed concurrently Publisher and Managing Editor in 1964. His passion for research as the foundation for all reporting is becoming a distinguishing mark of the journal's staff. An authority on such subjects as the textile industry in Asia and the terms of European trade with the Far East, he also shows himself sensitive to the human dimension.

In their editing of the Review, WILSON and SUNG have demonstrated that journalism can play a constructive role in fostering healthy growth. Both respected for their professional and personal integrity, these two editors are making economic news significant and readable.

In electing RICHARD GARRETT WILSON and KAYSER SUNG to receive the 1964 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism and Literature, the Board of Trustees recognizes their accuracy, impartiality and continuing search for facts and insights in recording Asia's quest for economic advancement .