Richard Hosford, Patch Staff

 Email: richard.hosford@patch.com Phone: 978-595-8544 Hometown: East Brookfield, Mass Birthday: November, 23 Bio: Richard Hosford decided to pursue a career in journalism while sitting in a small, one room plaster apartment in the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. While serving the small mountain town of Pazña, Bolivia as a volunteer with U.S. Peace Corps, he spent much of his free time reading and for the first time added news magazines, studies of culture and travel stories to his reading repertoire.

Rich discovered he enjoyed learning about current events and places around the world he had never thought about before. Working as a Peace Corps volunteer also helped him realize that getting to know a community, becoming part of a new town, is a rewarding and enjoyable experience and that he liked getting out and meeting new people. He combined these new interests with a love of writing and decided to become a journalist. 

In 2007, Richard got his first news job as a writer for the weekly newspaper, The Auburn News, published by Stonebridge Press, a news company out of Southbridge, Mass. The job was general assignment reporting of Auburn, Mass, and Rich covered issues including town politics, the happenings at the local schools, charity events and breaking news.

After working for a bit over a year, Rich decided to go back to school to get a better understanding of his chosen field. He entered into a Masters program at Northeastern University in Journalism and Public Policy Analysis, which is finished in the summer of 2009.

After graduating he went back to Stonebridge Press and worked for a time at the company's Villager Newspapers in Northeastern Connecticut. He then moved to Stonebridge Press's flagship daily paper, the Southbridge Evening News, before coming onboard with Patch.

When not working Rich enjoys reading, listening to podcasts (Stuff you Should Know, This American Life and Radiolab being his favorites), playing disc golf and spending time with friends and family. He also practices and teaches martial arts with the Fred Villari's Studios of Martial Arts.

Your Beliefs: At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics: I would say I am a former hardcore liberal who now just leans slightly towards the left side of the political spectrum. While in college from 1999 to 2003 I was a bit of an activist and participated in demonstrations against the Iraq War and other decisions by the administration. Since then I have adopted a more analytical approach to politics and now think it is my duty to watch both sides and evaluate all decisions and not be guided by my own feelings. Religion: I am a spiritual but not religious person.