Saurav Rahman receives $3,500 Carol Loomis Scholarship for Business Reporting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (July 9, 2025) — Master’s student Saurav Rahman has earned the Missouri School of Journalism’s $3,500 Carol Loomis Scholarship for Business Reporting. Named for the 1951 School of Journalism graduate, donor, Missouri Honor Medal recipient and former business writer at Fortune, the scholarship supports graduate students pursuing excellence in business reporting.
Rahman isn’t new to business journalism. Before coming to Mizzou to continue his education, he spent 13 years in reporting and investigative journalism in Bangladesh. He most recently led the business desk at Maasranga Television, where he has worked since the station’s inception in 2011.
Nor is this his first experience with the School of Journalism; he previously visited as an Alfred Friendly Press Partners Fellow in 2022, when he participated in hands-on training at Kansas City’s PBS affiliate, KCPT, and with the KC Media Collective.
“Saurav is a brilliant journalist with strong skills in mathematics, words and entrepreneurship. His natural ability to get along with others and to do hard academic work makes him a perfect recipient of the Loomis scholarship.”
Randy Smith, professor emeritus and president of Alfred Friendly Press Partners
“Saurav is a brilliant journalist with strong skills in mathematics, words and entrepreneurship,” said Randy Smith, professor emeritus and president of Alfred Friendly Press Partners, who noted that Rahman was part of a team that built a fact-checking organization in Bangladesh after he completed the fellowship. “His natural ability to get along with others and to do hard academic work makes him a perfect recipient of the Loomis scholarship.”
In fact, it was Rahman’s exposure to the Missouri Method of learning by doing during the Alfred Friendly Fellowship that convinced him to pursue graduate studies at the world’s oldest school of journalism.
“During that time, I saw what excellence in business journalism looks like,” Rahman said. “That eye-opening experience led me to return to this school and fully engage with the Missouri Method. I want to uphold the highest standard of the profession, especially with my work at Missouri Business Alert.”
And when it comes to Missouri Business Alert — the School’s digital newsroom covering business and economics in the state — Rahman’s reporting covers a wide range of topics under the umbrella of economics and labor, from the dynamics of Missouri’s news publishing industry to the implications of national stories for local industries. He also brings an analytical eye that he honed in more than three years as an independent reporter for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a worldwide investigative journalism network that earned a Missouri Honor Medal in 2023.
“Political decisions, natural disasters, policy changes all ripple through the economy and businesses, ultimately impacting the experience of everyday people. In many ways, business reporting offers a powerful lens to make sense of what is happening in the world around us. It touches nearly every aspect of society.”
Saurav Rahman
He credits Michael Stacy, Missouri Business Alert’s managing editor, with fostering a supportive and educational environment as he adjusted to reporting in a new country and culture. Now, he seeks to pay it forward to audiences by showing how news in the business world has impacts that reach much further than some realize.
“Political decisions, natural disasters, policy changes all ripple through the economy and businesses, ultimately impacting the experience of everyday people,” he said. “In many ways, business reporting offers a powerful lens to make sense of what is happening in the world around us. It touches nearly every aspect of society.”
Rahman hopes to ultimately pursue a doctorate and practice teaching and research. On top of his role as a reporter at Missouri Business Alert, he is also a graduate research assistant at Investigative Reporters and Editors, a nonprofit organization based at the School that trains and supports journalists. And with the help of guidance from experienced School of Journalism researchers like Amanda Hinnant, Joy Jenkins and Nick Mathews, he already has two papers — one solo-authored — accepted for presentation at this year’s Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference.
As the newest recipient of the Carol Loomis Scholarship, Rahman now has more support for that rounded, multidisciplinary journey.
About Missouri Business Alert
Missouri Business Alert is a digital business journalism newsroom run by professionals and staffed by students from the University of Missouri. The newsroom has helped students launch careers at Bloomberg, CNBC, the Associated Press and other news organizations. It’s one of five professional news outlets — including an NBC affiliate, an NPR member station, and a community newspaper — and two strategic communication agencies at the School of Journalism where students practice the Missouri Method.
Updated: July 9, 2025