By Shiori Okazaki, MIA ‘10

SIPA is full of multitalented students with cosmopolitan backgrounds. But even within this eclectic group, Benedict Moran, MIA ’10, stands out.

He is a triple citizen who has traveled to about 70 countries. A former Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, he is also an award-winning journalist who has freelanced from Tanzania and Sudan. He is, of course, also a first-year student at SIPA: a dual-degree student who will begin his Master of Science in Journalism, with a concentration in Newspaper, next fall.

Moran in Tanzania near the Oldonyo Lengai Volcano

“I wanted to improve my writing, and I think learning subjects such as African politics is important,” Ben says. “But the main reason I’m here is to do the dual degree.”

Although Ben became interested in journalism only a few years ago, he was always internationally-minded. Because of his Canadian father and American mother (his third citizenship from Italy was acquired through blood right), he grew up in both countries as well as in France.

He took 11 months after college to explore Africa, the Middle East and Europe, traveling exclusively over land and renting apartments in countries that he liked. When passing through the UAE, he was detained overnight, blindfolded and interrogated because of the lack of a proper stamp in his passport.

“They thought I was a terrorist because at the time I had a big beard, and was wearing a Palestinian scarf,” Ben says. “The last question they asked me was, ‘Are you a member of Al-Qaeda?’”

Needless to say, Ben denied the accusation, but found it incredible that they would ask him such a question. “I knew from there [that] it was going to be a good story,” he says.

His journey concluded in Paris. Inspired by the African culture in the French capital, he then decided to volunteer for the Peace Corps in West Africa.

While in Benin, he became involved with the local radio station, where he created his own call-in show for students. “There’s no electricity [or] cell phones, so I had boxes everywhere, and students could drop in notes,” he says. He answered questions about studying, peer pressure and AIDS on air. “After that I really got interested in doing some sort of media,” he says.

When he eventually left West Africa, “disillusioned with aid” because he saw how “the people who had implemented [aid programs] were very blind to the actual effects,” he explored journalism again. He traveled to Tanzania, recording his trip and pitching his story to NPR—which not only aired as a three-part documentary, but also won an award. He then headed to Sudan to work for an international aid NGO, where he became regional director, but left after a year to freelance for Bloomberg, NPR and Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a UN news agency.

But work was stressful. “You were constantly supervised by the state,” he says. “That atmosphere was very tense and I didn’t find the correct balance in Khartoum to be able to sustain it.” While hoping to return to Sudan soon, Ben “took a break to go to school.”

After SIPA and the Journalism School, Ben envisions a continued career in journalism, particularly for American media. “I’m very critical of the U.S. media—I think that’s what got us into a lot of the problems we are in now,” he says. “They weren’t acting as a check against the government.”

Along with a book on globalization that he is co-authoring with his father, he hopes to influence the view of the public in the U.S. “If I could write international news for an American audience, I’d be very satisfied. That’s probably my goal right now: to write in a relevant and understandable way for them.”