Columbia’s Knight-Bagehots named for 2019-20

The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economics at the Columbia Journalism School announced Tuesday 10 Knight-Bagehot Fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year. 

They come from top media publications and their work has been published in Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Quartz, Politico, Mother Jones, BBC, Africa Report, The Washington Post, Reuters, and The Journal News in White Plains.

“These Fellows reflect what was one of the most globally competitive and diverse applicant pools the Bagehot program has seen in its 44 years,” said Raju Narisetti, professor of professional practice and director of the program.

“When they graduate in 2020 with a much deeper understanding of business, economics, technology and public policy, they will join 400 other Knight Bagehot alums living up to the mission of providing better context and understanding to their audiences globally.”

The mid-career journalism fellowships provide full tuition and a living stipend of $60,000 for experienced journalists to take graduate courses at Columbia University, primarily at Columbia’s Schools of Business and Journalism. Fellows also attend special seminars at the Journalism School, led by seasoned journalists, media business executives and a broad range of tech, finance and economics experts during the nine-month program, which begins in August.

This year’s fellows are:

Jillian Berman, 29, is a reporter at MarketWatch, where she covers student debt and higher education. Her reporting on America’s $1.5 trillion student loan problem has been recognized as a Gerald Loeb awards finalist and as a winner of the Education Writers Association’s National Awards for Education Reporting. In 2017, she also received the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s Larry Birger award, which honors business journalists under 30. Prior to MarketWatch, Jillian covered retail and food companies as well as workplace diversity for HuffPost. Her work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and USA Today. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she was the news editor at the campus paper, The Michigan Daily.

María Eloísa Capurro, 34, is an economics journalist at the Búsqueda newspaper in Uruguay, and is also a freelance correspondent there for Reuters. She has covered major political and social local developments for the Mexican editions of CNN and Vice, and Brazilian media outlets such as O Estado de São Paulo and Carta Capital. She started her career at El País of Montevideo, after which she began her specialization in economics reporting at the Spanish newspaper ABC, where she worked in 2012. She has a communications degree from the University of the Republic, and a Masters in Finance from the University of Montevideo.

Katie Jennings, 30, is a health care reporter for Politico Europe, based in Brussels, where she covers EU pharmaceutical regulation and public health issues. She joined Politico in 2015 as a New Jersey Statehouse reporter focused on health policy, insurance regulation and politics. Previously, she worked with a team from Columbia University School of Journalism on a year-long Los Angeles Times investigation on the gap between Exxon Mobil’s public position and internal planning on climate change. She has a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. in health and science reporting from Columbia.

Hannah Levintova, 31, is a reporter in Washington DC for Mother Jones, covering politics with an eye towards stories about money, influence, and financial policy. Previously, she worked on the news desk at NPR, as an intern at the Washington Monthly, and as a Freedom of Information Act officer at a US federal agency. A member of the Mother Jones staff that received the 2017 Magazine of the Year award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, she holds a B.A. with honors from Brown University.

Larry Madowo, 31, is the BBC Africa Business Editor. He set up and leads a unit of nearly 30 journalists spread across Africa and London, covering Africa’s business, tech and innovation in English, French and Swahili. He has been a contributing columnist for The Washington Post’s Global Opinions page and written for CNN.com and Forbes Africa. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential Africans 2018 by New African magazine. He has hosted his own television and radio programs and reported from 40 countries, and has some 3.5 million followers on social media.

Akiko Matsuda, 53, is a real estate reporter for The Journal News/lohud, part of USA Today Network, based in White Plains, New York, where she covers the business of real estate and development. Previously, she focused on government affairs and environmental issues. She was a gold award recipient in the 2018 National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism competition and was an international reporting fellow at Columbia University School of Journalism. She received master’s degrees in journalism and environmental science from Columbia. Prior to moving to the United States, she was a TV news anchor in Sapporo, Japan, where she hosted evening-news shows and produced documentaries on topics such as independent senior living communities and sustainability.

Eshe Nelson, 27, is an economics and markets reporter at Quartz, based in London, where she has covered Brexit, the euro-zone economy, global financial markets, and international trade. She developed several new coverage areas for Quartz, including a series of stories about sustainable finance and racial economic inequality. Previously, she was a markets reporter for Bloomberg News, where she reported on government bonds and currencies. She has a degree from City University, London.

Oheneba Ama Nti Osei, 31, is the production editor for the pan-African news organization The Africa Report, based in Paris, where she juggles magazine and website production, with business reporting and managing two of the publication’s main editorial features: regional and sectoral analysis of Africa’s top 500 companies and top 200 banks. In 2018, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40, as part of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, being observed from 2015 to 2024. A native of Ghana, she has an M.A. in International Relations from Paris-Est Creteil University and an M.B.A. from Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

Andrew Rosati, 31, is the Bloomberg News economics and government reporter in Venezuela, where he’s covered the slide of an oil-rich nation into humanitarian catastrophe. His work focuses on the effects of hyperinflation and economic distortions on daily life, the Venezuelan migration crisis, and the military’s grip on society. Based in Caracas since 2012, he has previously written for The Miami Herald, produced spots for Public Radio International, as well as television features and documentaries. He holds a B.A. from Temple University, where he double majored in economics and Spanish.

Hamza Shaban, 32, is a technology and business reporter for The Washington Post, covering national and breaking news. Before joining the Post in 2017, he worked at BuzzFeed, where he covered technology policy from the Washington, D.C. bureau. Previously, he freelanced for a variety of outlets, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Verge, focusing on the politics of technology and business. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

The 10 Fellows, who currently work in business and economics journalism across seven countries in four continents, were selected from applicants from 26 countries and represent all the major business journalism avenues from small newspapers and magazines to global newswires and television. Additional details about this year’s applicant pool can be found here: https://journalism.columbia.edu/knight-bagehot-2019-20-fellowships-applicant-profile

The 2019-20 Fellows were chosen by the faculty of the Columbia Journalism School with help from a Selection Advisory Committee of senior media executives from organizations such as CNN, ProPublica and The New York Times.