Karen Bowerman

Karen Bowerman is an English journalist and television presenter who has worked for Sky, ITV, CNN International and the BBC. She was the consumer correspondent for BBC One and the business, finance and consumer presenter for the BBC News Channel and its international counterpart BBC World. She now works as a presenter and videojournalist for Fast Track, the BBC's international travel show and specialises in business, consumer and travel journalism.

Education

Bowerman studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford where she was an academic scholar. She has a BA (Hons) and MA in Theology. She was accepted at Wolfson College, Oxford, to study for a Ph.D in Theology but deferred her place for a year to try to fund it. It was then she got into journalism.

Career

Early career

Realising she wanted to become a journalist and eager to start Bowerman took her laptop into a local paper in Devon and offered to write up local stories until they could afford to pay her. Soon she was freelancing for them, writing stories and editing special editions. A few months later she became a BBC Trainee in News which led to her reporting and presenting for BBC South West.

News career

Bowerman joined Sky News in 1997 as a producer. She went on to become and presenter and reporter for Sky and an occasional presenter for CNN International covering the Omagh bombing and the death of Mother Teresa. In 2000 Bowerman returned to the BBC, this time in London, as the consumer correspondent for the BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and the BBC News at Ten carrying out undercover filming and special investigations (fears over mobile phone masts; misleading advertising; dangers of hidden salt in food; availability of prescription medicines online). She also reported for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live. In 2003 Bowerman worked for BBC Programmes for a few years before returning as the business, personal finance & consumer presenter for BBC News.

Programmes

Bowerman presented films for Weekend Watchdog, Newsnight, BBC 2's travel show Fast:track (now broadcast on BBC World) and Carlton Country. In 2003 she joined the Heaven and Earth Show which she regularly produced. She also conceived and co-produced Let's Test the Nation's Morals a one-off show broadcast by BBC Religion & Ethics in front of a live audience. In 2004 she became a presenter on BBC Northern Ireland's Consumer show, Fair Play, exposing rogue traders through undercover filming. Some of her investigations resulted in court action against those involved.

Adventure & Eco travel

Since 2007 Bowerman has worked for BBC World TV's travel show Fast Track where she filmed her experiences zip lining through the Ecuadorean Andes, rafting down the Grand Canyon and various eco tourism initiatives. In 2007 she was one of just six national journalists to be offered a seat on the inaugural flight of the A380 superjumbo from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. Bowerman is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers and was shortlisted (one of three) for the Travel Broadcast Journalist of the year in the Kingley Travel Press Awards, 2009.

The wrong guy

Bowerman's infamous claim to fame was interviewing the wrong guy, Guy Goma on BBC News when she was the News Channel's business, personal finance & consumer presenter. Goma was an unsuspecting applicant for an IT job who thought the interview on Apple Computers was part of the BBC's interview process. Bowerman's editor said her sixth sense suggested something was wrong but that there was so much going on her communication to him got lost as they went live. Bowerman was told to keep the man talking while producers scrambled to get another guest lined up. The story gave Fleet Street and the international press a good run for their money. The BBC said Bowerman "deserved a medal" for her handling of the affair.