Betsy Rate

Betsy Rate began her journalism career as a hammer-wielding production assistant responsible for building the set of a Bill Moyers (Google him!) PBS series. Since then, she’s written, reported and produced stories for screens and stages of all sizes. An Emmy-nominated producer for various PBS and network news magazines, Betsy’s investigated a range of subjects from the economics of college sports to the evolution of American HIV/AIDS policies to mountaintop removal mining. As senior producer, Betsy launched NowThis, the first mobile- and social-first news network and one of the most-watched publishers on Facebook. Before joining Berkeley Journalism, Betsy was senior producer for Tina Brown’s Women in the World, a live journalism event that convened throughout the world. There she produced interviews and videos showcasing numerous women of impact including Prime Minister Theresa May, Nobel Laureates Leymah Gbowee and Nadia Murad and actresses Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman. Betsy was associate producer of Hot Coffee, an HBO documentary examining tort reform featured at Sundance, Full Frame, Hot Docs and Silverdocs. Her favorite assignments include walking the Miss America runway for MTV News, touring the Vegas strip with Wayne Newton for NBC, and chasing the paparazzi chasing Britney Spears for “60 Minutes.” Betsy is the recipient of fellowships with ABC News, the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT, the International Reporting Project, and the CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Kansas and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism where she served as an adjunct professor.