Richard Lui - Journalism Career

Journalism Career

Since joining MSNBC in 2010, Lui has anchored live breaking stories for the network, including the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, NATO's attack in Libya, and Egypt’s president and vice president's resignations during the country's revolution.

In an NBC News investigation, Lui examined a human trafficking phenomenon involving high-volume brothels in the U.S. Where women were forced to have sex 100 times a day. He told it in English and Spanish. Lui’s field reporting includes the 2010 midterm elections and the Tea Party movement.

During five years at CNN Worldwide, Lui anchored live breaking stories such as the 2009 Gaza-Israel War, Virginia Tech Massacre, 2006 Hezbollah-Israel War, Mumbai train terrorist bombings, and Mumbai Hotels Siege. He reported extensively from the Gulf on the BP oil spill.

Lui's field reporting explored political and civil rights controversies in the Asian American community, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which led to a system of illegal immigrants called Paper Sons. He reported on the Vincent Chin killing during the 1980s U.S.-Japan automaker tensions, and its link to the Muslim-American community’s post 9/11 challenges.

Traveling to Indonesia, Lui went undercover to expose child sex slavery. Later, as seen on CNN’s Freedom Project, he investigated five year olds sold to Ghanaian fisherman as labor slaves.

Lui filed reports on the implications of terrorist activity, exploring counter-IED strategy and equipment, and container scanning technology at the world's busiest port. This topic took him to Bali to report on the latent economic effects of the Jemaah Islamiya terrorist bombings.

Lui anchored and reported on all CNN English-language networks, including CNN US, CNN International, and HLN. He also field reported for CNN’s Southern Region.

Before CNN Worldwide, Lui worked in Asia during five years of major political change. He anchored live, rolling coverage of the South Asian tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands, and the 2003 SARS and bird flu outbreaks. In 2004, he covered the shooting of Taiwan’s president during the national election, and on Indonesia as it moved from Sukarno family rule, bridging 50 years. Lui was based in Singapore at Channel NewsAsia, an English-only news network reaching 20 countries and territories.