Rick Douglas

People often ask me what inspired me to become a reporter and my answer is always the same: I saw “all the president’s men,” the Robert Redford movie about the Watergate scandal. I decided I wanted to spend my life uncovering injustice and, failing that, telling stories.

My career in broadcast journalism has taken me all over the country. The joke I tell is that I am trying to become America’s favorite anchorman, one city at a time.

But the itinerant nature of the business has afforded me opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have had. For instance, I spent a day with legendary photographer Ansel Adams just prior to his death. His example inspired me to pursue landscape photography, although strictly as an amateur.

I also spent a week aboard the Australian flagship “Endeavor,” a replica of the tall ship that captain cook used to explore the south pacific. During the voyage off the California coast, we were caught up in a violent storm that had the ship rocking like a metronome. Thankfully, lifeboats weren’t needed.

One of my favorite assignments was re-tracing the footsteps of the Lewis & Clark expedition on the contemporary trail. The hour-long show won a slew of awards and the admiration of esteemed documentarian Ken Burns.

I also have dabbled in acting from time to time. So far, I am the only American actor to have portrayed Ernest Hemingway on stage. I was cast in an experimental play in Spokane that combined elements from both “a moveable feast” and “the snows of Kilimanjaro.”