Chris Reason (born 1 October 1965) is a senior reporter and presenter for ''

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition television, high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while f ...

'' in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was awarded the

Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award The Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award, often known simply as the Graham Perkin Award, is one of Australia's pre-eminent prizes for journalism. It was established and named in honour of Graham Perkin, who was editor of ''The ...

for his coverage of the

Lindt Cafe siege The Lindt Cafe siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café in the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney, ...

in December 2014.

Career

Reason's career began in 1990, when during his first year at ''Seven News'' he unwittingly covered a segment now infamously known as the

Democracy Manifest video "Democracy Manifest" (also known as "Succulent Chinese Meal", among other names) is an October 1991 Australian news segment video by reporter Chris Reason. It is "one of Australia's most viral videos", according to Sportsbet. ''The Guardian'', ...

, which became an Internet viral video years later. In 2019, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it "perhaps the pre-eminent Australian meme of the past 10 years". In 2002, he was announced as co-host of the re-launched national breakfast program ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

'' alongside

Melissa Doyle Melissa Jane Doyle (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian television presenter, author and journalist. She was previously co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program ''Sunrise'' from 2002 to 2013 alongside David Koch and ho ...

. But in September, Reason was diagnosed with cancer and forced to retire from the program while he underwent six months of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

, surgery and recovery care. He was replaced by

David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

. The cancer was an abdominal

metastasis Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

of the

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle, or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an u ...

he had fought four years earlier. Reason had missed a critical health check-up in 2001 while covering the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, and he says it almost cost him his life. In multiple interviews since, he has warned young men to never miss a health check-up. In 2003, after his recovery, Reason had multiple roles—first as presenter of '' Seven Morning News,'' and then presenter of ''

Sunday Sunrise ''Weekend Sunrise'' is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network and currently hosted by Monique Wright and Matt Doran. History In 2005 the Seven Network replaced its struggling Sunday morning program ''Sunday ...

'' in 2004''.'' In 2005, he was named co-host of ''

Weekend Sunrise ''Weekend Sunrise'' is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network and currently hosted by Monique Wright and Matt Doran. History In 2005 the Seven Network replaced its struggling Sunday morning program ''Sunday ...

'' alongside

Lisa Wilkinson Lisa Wilkinson (born 19 December 1959) is an Australian television presenter and journalist. Wilkinson currently narrates '' Ambulance Australia'' and has previously co-hosted the Nine Network's breakfast television program, ''Today,'' with K ...

, but he was later replaced by ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

'' host

Andrew O'Keefe Andrew Patrick O'Keefe AM (born 1 October 1971) is an Australian former television presenter and lawyer. He is best known for being the host of the game shows ''Deal or No Deal'' and ''The Chase Australia''. He was also the co-host of ''Weeke ...

. Reason returned to full-time reporting as Senior Network Correspondent. In 2015, he won the Graham Perkin Award for his coverage of the

. He has won a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

and two

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

s for News Reporting. Reason is a back-up presenter for most of the ''Seven News'' programs, including ''Seven Morning News'', ''Seven Afternoon News'' and ''Seven News Sydney''. He also intermittently fills in for either David Koch or Matt Doran on ''Sunrise'' and ''Weekend Sunrise'' respectively, and appears on the former show during the week as one of the ''News Feed'' panelists.

Personal life

His father died from brain cancer in 2006. He attended Villanova College in the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

suburb of

Coorparoo Coorparoo is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 16,282 people. Geography Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Stones Corner ...

and the University of Queensland (BA). Reason married journalist Kathryn Robinson in 2005. They became parents to twins in 2007.

References

External links

Seven News website
* https://web.archive.org/web/20091005065545/http://www.claxtonspeakers.com.au/speakers_profile/915 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reason, Chris Australian television presenters Australian television journalists Living people People educated at Villanova College (Australia) People from Brisbane 1965 births