Recent master of journalism graduate Priya Bhat Manjeshwar has been named a 2021 Carnegie-Knight News21 fellow, working with a team of journalists reporting on poverty and pandemic in the United States.
News21 is a national reporting program, based at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Journalism students from across the United States join hands to report and produce in-depth, multimedia projects for major media outlets, including The Washington Post, NBC News and USA Today.
Bhat is one of the fellows from over a dozen universities in the U.S., including fellows from the Cronkite School and the only fellow from a Canadian university taking part in the program.
She is currently completing the fellowship remotely, led by News21 Executive Director Jacquee Petchel, a Pulitzer-Prize winner journalist and former senior editor at the Houston Chronicle.
“I am honoured to have been chosen as a fellow for this project and to have this opportunity to work with student journalists from around the world. Working collaboratively on such a large project is a great way to share skills, ideas and learn from your peers on a multitude of subjects,” said Bhat.
The 2021 project will focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected marginalized communities of the United States of America. The teams will report on the impact on housing and living conditions, the homeless, unemployment, hunger, health care, child care, education, crime, the elderly, rural communities, farmers, undocumented workers, mortgage defaults, and the elderly.
“The pandemic has impacted each and every one of us—from the way we work or learn to the way we interact and adapt to our surroundings—but it has impacted marginalized communities more, disproportionately and with a much harsher impact on all aspects of their lives,” said Bhat.
Fellows are conducting research, reaching out to communities, interviewing experts and reporting from the ground for their investigations. They are working out of the Cronkite School’s newsroom for 10 weeks from June to August.
Last summer, she completed a practicum online at The Narwhal, a non-profit online magazine that tells stories about Canada’s natural world you can’t find anywhere else. She also interned at the B.C.-based publication The Tyee where she was able to gain experience as an editor and learn the ropes of newsroom editing.
This year, Bhat was part of the Global Reporting Program — for which she reported, along with her team, on global land grabbing patterns and their impact on Indigenous groups, local communities, and the livelihoods of people who have lost their lands to governments and multinational companies.
Bhat is the eighth student from the School selected for this fellowship. Last year, Braela Kwan contributed to Kids Imprisoned, an investigation into juvenile justice in America. Their project won the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award recognizing the best collegiate reporting in the country on social justice issues.
In 2019, Dustin Patar contributed to State of Emergency, a five-part series investigating the U.S. response and recovery to natural disasters.
In 2018, Anya Zoledziowski was part of Hate in America, where she examined the cases of missing and murdered Native American women.
Previously, fellows of News21 have published their projects in major outlets such as The Washington Post, NBC News and USA Today. They have garnered numerous awards, including five EPPY Awards from Editor & Publisher magazine, Hearst Journalism Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and Student Edward R. Murrow Awards for video excellence, as well as recognitions from leading journalism organizations such as Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Online News Association, the National Association of Black Journalists and Society of Professional Journalists.
