Rudabeh Shahbazi
Rudabeh Shahbazi
Rudabeh Shahbazi (Farsi: رودابه شهبازى) is an Emmy Award-winning Iranian-American journalist and evening news anchor at WFOR, the CBS affiliate in Miami, Florida. Shahbazi also hosts the weekly public affairs program South Florida. In September 2020, she will be joining WGN America as a news anchor.
Early Life and Education
Shahbazi is the daughter of renowned Iranian archaeologist Alireza Shapour Shahbazi (Farsi: عليرضا شاپور شهبازى). Shahbazi was born in Göttingen, West Germany, briefly lived in Boston and New York before her family settled in La Grande, Oregon in 1985, and spent her childhood summers in Iran.
Shahbazi graduated from Pepperdine University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Sociology, and went on to earn a Master of Arts in Journalism and Television Production from the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in 2007. During her studies at Berkeley, Shahbazi traveled to Jordan to cover the plight of refugees who had fled the Iraq War, and her story was featured on PBS Frontline. [1]
Career
Shahbazi's first job in journalism following graduate school was as a news assistant at KTVU, the Fox affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2008 Shahbazi was hired as a reporter and multimedia journalist by KEPR, the CBS affiliate in Eastern Washington, where she covered education and interviewed then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. In 2009 Shahbazi joined the staff of KNXV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona, where she won her first Emmy Award and her coverage of SB 1070 was used as evidence in a Justice Department lawsuitagainst the State of Arizona. Shahbazi then worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor at KABC, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, California, from 2011 to 2015. Thereafter, Shahbazi joined the staff of WFOR, where she presently anchors the evening news alongside former Fox News correspondentRick Folbaum, and where her team won an Emmy for its coverage of the Pulse nightclub shooting. [1]
In May 2020, Shahbazi changed her workplace.
Shahbazi did not specify where she will be working, only that it is a 'national reporting/anchor" position.
She told Miami Community Newspapers that some hard feelings remain with her former employer. After Shahbazi informed her bosses that she was leaving, they immediately ended her contract, which had three months left to go. Moreover, Shahbazi reported that they wouldn’t allow her back in to the Doral offices to retrieve any of her belongings.[19]
On Twitter May 8, Shahbazi announced:
"After five incredible years in South Florida, I am excited to announce that I have accepted a national anchor/reporter position (tba).
I will deeply miss everything that makes our community so special.
Thank you for allowing me into your homes - it has been a true privilege."[19]
In June 2020, Shahbazi wrote on Twitter:
“Very excited to be one of the news anchors for a new national newscast on the WGN America cable network!”[25]
Her start date at WGN America is September 1. Shahbazi will be based in WGN’s Chicago newsroom as one of a number of anchors on a live, daily three-hour national newscast called “News Nation,” from 8 to 11 p.m.[25]