Habiba Nosheen

Habiba Nosheen is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker. In 2016, CBC announced that Habiba will be joining the CBC as the new co-host of Canada's leading investigative news-magazine show, "the fifth estate." Habiba was born in Pakistan and is fluent in four languages. She teaches reporting at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to CBC, she worked at 60 Minutes where her reporting included stories on death penalty in America, wrongful convictions, and corruption in the banking system. Her reporting with 60 Minutes won an Emmy and was named a finalist for The George Foster Peabody award. In 2013, Habiba shot, directed and reported the film Outlawed in Pakistan which aired on PBS FRONTLINE. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it was called "among the standouts" of Sundance by The Los Angeles Times. The film won her the Emmy award for Outstanding Research. She also received The David A. Andelman and Pamela Title Award by The Overseas Press Club which honors “the best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition.” In 2013, Habiba's radio documentary for This American Life, “What Happened at Dos Erres?” pieced together a massacre in Guatemala 30 years earlier partly by tracking down the men responsible for the killings and interviewing them about what happened that day. The New Yorker described it as “a masterpiece of storytelling.” Her reporting on that story won her The George Foster Peabody Award, The Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, The Third Coast Radio Award, The New York Radio Festival Award and two Overseas Press Club Awards in addition to being a finalist for The Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Habiba has reported extensively from South Asia. In 2012, her PBS investigation, "To Adopt A Child," told the story of the murky side of adoptions from Nepal that left many families caught in the middle. Her investigation earned her a Gracie Award for Outstanding Correspondent. As a result of her investigation, the Nepalese government admitted publicly for the first time that “mistakes were made” in their adoption system. Long before Habiba began to explore the world with a camera, she got her start in journalism through radio. She first reported from Pakistan for CBC's The Current and later was selected for the prestigious KROC Fellowship with NPR where her stories aired on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In 2014, Habiba was named among the "top 5 Outstanding Pakistani Women" by the country’s leading newspaper. Her reporting has also been published by The New York Times, TIME, The Washington Post, BBC and ProPublica among others outlets. She holds a masters degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a second master’s degree in Women’s Studies from York University. Habiba grew up in Canada where she immigrated with her family at the age of nine as a refugee. Amongst her biggest accomplishments in life is being the proud mother of two amazing kids who keep her on her toes and fully caffeinated. Her guilty pleasures include listening to terrible 90s pop music. Last updated July 2017