Emmanuel Dogbevi gets Columbia University’s Knight-Bagehot Fellowship

Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, has been named among 10 top economic journalists as 2013-14 Knight-Bagehot (pronounced Baj-et) Fellows of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York, USA.

The University made the announcement today April 29, 2013.

Dogbevi becomes the first Ghanaian journalist to be awarded the prestigious fellowship.

According to Terri Thompson, Director of the Programme, Fredlintz Igbeare was the first African to be named a Knight-Bagehot Fellow for the class of 1992.

“In the 20 years I’ve run the programme, we’ve had six more Africans – Babatunde Harrison, Iraki Peter Kibiriti, Bolaji Ojo, Vincent Nwanma, Yasser Sobhi and Ismaila Dieng. Until just recently, we only permitted one international journalist in each class of ten. Starting just last year we stopped limiting the number of international journalists we accept (last year we had five Americans and five non-Americans; this year we have seven Americans and three non-Americans)” she wrote in response to an email enquiry.

“Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, 44, is founder and managing online editor of www.ghanabusinessnews.com, an online business news portal in Accra, Ghana, where his special interests are e-waste, renewable energy and economic development. His articles on e-waste dumping in Ghana have drawn international attention to the issue in that country. One of his articles on the topic has been included in a textbook (Cross Currents: Cultures, Communities, Technologies, 1st Edition published by Cengage Learning in 2013). Winner of the Best Anti-corruption Reporter Award of the Ghana Journalists Association in 2012, he holds a BA from the University of Ghana,” the statement by the University said.

The other journalists are from The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, American Banker, The Morning Call, National Journal and other news organizations in Washington D.C., China and Nepal.

“These journalists represent the best and brightest in business journalism,” said Terri Thompson, director of the programme.

“We look forward to welcoming them for a rigorous programme of study here at Columbia,” Terri added.

Founded in 1975, the fellowships are named for John S. and James L. Knight, brothers who established the Knight Foundation, and Walter Bagehot, the 19th-century British economist and editor of The Economist.

Full Statement: 2013-14 Knight-Bagehot Fellows announced

Ten Knight-Bagehot Fellows in economics and business journalism have been named by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for the 2013-2014 academic year. They include journalists from The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, American Banker, The Morning Call, National Journal and other news organizations in Washington, D.C., China, Nepal and Ghana.

“These journalists represent the best and brightest in business journalism,” said Terri Thompson, director of the program. “We look forward to welcoming them for a rigorous program of study here at Columbia.”

This year’s fellows are:

Anjali Athavaley, 28, covers commercial real estate for the Greater New York section of The Wall Street Journal, where she started as an intern in 2006. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she also interned at The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Miami Herald.

Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, 44, is founder and managing online editor of www.ghanabusinessnews.com, an online business news portal in Accra, Ghana, where his special interests are e-waste, renewable energy and economic development.  Winner of the Best Anti-corruption Reporter Award of the Ghana Journalists Association in 2012, he holds a BA from the University of Ghana.

Roseanne Gerin, 45, has worked in China since 2007, most recently as senior news editor, China Radio International in Beijing. Previously, she was a staff writer for Washington Technology, a trade magazine about companies that sell IT and telecom products and services to the U.S. government.

Jeff Horwitz, 31, was hired by American Banker in 2009 after graduating from Columbia with an MA in Business Journalism. He previously worked for the Washington City Paper, the San Bernardino Sun, and Legal Times, and freelanced in East Africa. He has also written stories for Slate, the Washington Post, Portfolio, the Atlantic, The Dallas Morning News and the Sacramento Bee.

Aaron Kessler, 33, is a staff writer for 100Reporters, a nonprofit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. As a reporter for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, he partnered with ProPublica on an award-winning investigation of contaminated Chinese drywall used in thousands of U.S. homes. He has previously covered subjects ranging from the housing and auto industries, to mortgage fraud, terrorist networks and other financial crimes.

Prem K. Khanal, 43, is associate editor of Republica English daily in  Kathmandu, Nepal, which he joined in 2008 as business editor.  Previously, he was the chief of the business bureau at The Kathmandu Post. He graduated with an MA in Economics from Tribhuvan University  in 1999 and served briefly as research officer for the Institute for  Development Studies in Kathmandu before beginning his 12-year career  in journalism.

Margot Sanger-Katz, 33, is health care correspondent for National Journal, the Washington, D.C. politics and policy magazine. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she previously wrote or edited for Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, Yale Alumni Magazine, and Legal Affairs magazine.

Spencer Soper, 39, is senior business reporter for The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, where he has worked since 2005. Previously, he was a reporter for newspapers in California and New York. He graduated with a BA in English from the State University of Albany, New York in 1995.

Peter Svensson, 40, is a technology writer for The Associated Press. Born and raised in Sweden, he has served in the country’s military intelligence and been a U.N. peacekeeper in Croatia. He studied journalism at Stockholm University and photography and multimedia at New York University.

Amy Yee, 38, a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, India, focuses on development, business approaches to reducing poverty and stories with social impact. A graduate of Wellesley College, she got her start in business journalism in 1999 as a reporter for The Financial Times based in New York. In 2006, she moved to New Delhi and covered India for the FT until 2008. As a freelancer, she writes for The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, The Lancet, Forbes and other publications.

See link on Columbia University’s website.

By Ekow Quandzie