Bazi Kanani

Bazi Kanani joined CPR News as a host and reporter in 2024.

Professional Background: Bazi’s work as a journalist has led her on assignments across Colorado and around the world. She began her career as a reporter and host at local television and radio stations in Nevada, Michigan, Western New York and Colorado. In 2012, she worked internationally as a reporter for ABC News based in Nairobi, Kenya. She also spent a few years based in the Washington, D.C., bureau for ABC News. Before returning to her home state of Colorado, Bazi lived in central Mexico where she and her family studied Spanish language and Mexican culture.

Education: Dual bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Broadcast Journalism from Pepperdine University. Courses in language and culture from the Instituto Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Awards: Bazi was recognized as the Broadcast Journalist of the Year by the Colorado Association of Black Journalists in 2005. In 2007, her documentary about a trip to Tanzania with her father won Heartland Emmy and National Association of Black Journalist awards. In 2008, she produced a documentary about how groups of Coloradans were contributing to a promising recovery from a devastating genocide in Rwanda. “Reaching Rwanda” was honored with Regional Edward R. Murrow, Heartland Emmy and Colorado Associated Press Broadcaster Association awards. In 2012, Bazi won a Gracie Award for her reporting on ABC’s Nightline about an impending humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region of western Africa.