Bente Birkeland

Public Affairs Reporter

@BenteBirkeland[email protected]

Bente is an award-winning journalist who joined Colorado Public Radio in August 2018 after a decade of reporting on the Colorado state capitol for the Rocky Mountain Community Radio collaborative and KUNC. In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later.

Professional Background:

Before joining CPR and KUNC, she was a reporter at KMOX Radio and KOMU TV, and also worked as a research analyst for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Awards:

In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later. She also won an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2015 for her work on KRCC's series on the Southwest Chief, "Railroad West."

Throughout her career, Bente has been honored with various accolades from the Colorado Broadcaster's Association, the Association of Statehouse Reporter and Editors, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Mortar Board National Honorary Society and the Omicron Delta Epsilon International Economics Honorary Society.

Education:

Bachelor's degree economics with a mathematical emphasis, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Master's degree in journalism, University of Missouri

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Justice — And Many Other Things — Delayed

What happens to the right to a speedy trial when the court system is shut down during a pandemic? Can testing every last person in a small Western Colorado county yield new insights into the spread of coronavirus? What will life in Colorado look like the day after the “stay home” order lifts? And how much, really, will lawmakers actually try to push through once they’re allowed back in the state capitol? Hosts Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney tackle those questions and more with CPR’s Justice reporter, Allison Sherry.