After the Iowa Writers Workshop, Richter joined Oregon Public Broadcasting initially as a producer-reporter, then Director of Public Affairs programs. In addition he reported from the Pacific Northwest for The New York Times. A CBS News Fellowship brought him back to New York where he earned an M.A. in Public Law and Government at Columbia University. He is the last member of the Edward R. Murrow-Fred Friendly CBS Reports unit still actively producing documentaries. After he left CBS in 1968 to become an independent filmmaker, his company, Richter Productions, Inc. made more than 50 documentaries telecast in prime time on HBO, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS, Discovery, BBC and major overseas television outlets.
Awards
Few documentary filmmakers have received as many honors: the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences nominated two Richter films for best documentary short; he received a 2008 National Emmy for "exceptional merit in nonfiction filmmaking;" the duPont Columbia Broadcast Journalism award ; the Distinguished Science Reporting Award from AAAS ; Peabody Awards; many US and international film festival awards; critical acclaim in The New York Times and other major papers. Richter's many documentaries on environmental subjects earned him a Global 500 Award from the United Nations Environment Programme—the only independent producer in the world to receive this honor. He served on the Motion Picture Academy’s Documentary Branch Executive Committee as well as the Academy's New York Events Committee. He is a member of the Writers Guild, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Richter was president of the nationwide 5,000-member Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers for 14 years. While in that volunteer office he headed a committee that lobbied Congress to create ITVS, the Independent Television Service, the largest funder of independent productions in the U.S. He also was a New York representative on the International Documentary Association board for seven years. He has been an International and National Emmy judge, and a juror at U.S. and foreign film festivals. He was a delegate to the Leningrad International Documentary Film Festival, a USIA lecturer in former Yugoslavia and West Germany, and has spoken at more than 50 American colleges and universities.
