Lowell Bergman - Academic Highlights

Academic Highlights

In addition to being a mentor to upcoming journalists from around the world, working with and directing them on major investigations, he also serves as the conduit between student projects and their publication in some of the country’s top media outlets. Projects produced out of Mr. Bergman’s investigative reporting seminars at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley have reached substantial audiences with significant impact, appearing on national television, including PBS' Frontline and Frontline/World, as well as ABC's Nightline, CBS Evening News, and 60 Minutes II; and in print, where students have been the primary authors or contributors of stories that have appeared in the pages of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, as well as a wide variety of magazines and international and local newspapers. This work, especially in recent years, demonstrated that investigative reporting written and produced by students – and guided by veteran reporters – can help raise the standards of journalism nationally.

Bergman also helps in securing financial support from both private donors and foundations for travel and research expenses that facilitate the students’ work.

In 2007, Bergman spearheaded the effort to establish three annual Fellowships in Investigative Reporting at UC Berkeley. This year-long program is without peer at any academic institution in the nation and is designed to nurture young journalists who want to pursue a career in in-depth public service reporting by providing them with a salary, benefits and editorial guidance.