Benedetta Argentieri

My first assignment as an intern at a local TV station was to go to a crime scene in Rome, Italy. Two people died as a result of an exchange of gunfire. It was a summer job, and at that time I was still studying to obtain my BA in Fine and Decorative Art at Sotheby's Institute of Art. I graduated six months later and abandoned my major in school to become a journalist in Italy. In 2004 I was hired by Mediaset, Italy's largest private broadcasting company, as a staff writer for the web site. I covered the Tsunami disaster and John Paul II, followed by the Papal election. 

In 2007 Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper, offered me a position in the metro section. I started covering education. In 2008 students protested against University reform. Some of the marches ended up with riots and clashes with police. Protests continued throughout the fall and the following spring. I also focused on right wing extremism and I was able to report from the largest European neo-Nazi gathering in North West Italy. 

From that moment onwards I mainly covered social conflicts and political extremism in both Italy and abroad. In 2010 the anti-austerity movement spread throughout the European Union. Hundreds thousands people took to the streets to show their anger over economic reforms. When I moved to the online section of Corriere I went to Greece, Spain, and Germany to cover marches and investigate social issues. I also reported from Iran and Cuba, focusing on young people and their every day lives under a regime. In 2013, I produced Capulcu Voices From Gezi, a documentary on the Istanbul revolt, which took place that summer. I organized and conducted interviews while setting up most of the shooting locations in the city.  

In August 2013, I came to New York to study journalism and politics at Columbia University as a Sanpaolo fellow. I got my MA degree in May. Now I work as a freelance journalist focusing on national security, military issues, and social conflicts.