Tenzin Pema is an award-winning journalist of Tibetan origin with over two decades of experience as a reporter, editor, innovator, and newsroom leader in global media firms, with a specialization in Tibet, Sino-India-US-Tibet issues, human rights, social and environmental justice, and tech and business news.  

She was named a 2025-2026 Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan where she is engaged in research, exchange of knowledge, and study for professional and personal growth, with a focus on exploring tools and ideas to advance Tibet coverage amidst severe restrictions to information.

She was most recently the Director of Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan Service, where she led critical and sensitive reporting on Tibet across multiple formats and platforms, including groundbreaking coverage of the 2024 Dege dam protests and the subsequent mass arrests of Tibetan monks and locals. She has also tracked the Chinese government’s systematic efforts to erase Tibetan identity through repressive restrictions on their linguistic, religious, cultural rights in Tibet and the use of transnational repression and economic clout at the global level. In addition, Tenzin has covered China expansionist moves in Asia and in the Global South, with a focus on the use of nomenclature warfare, Buddhism soft power diplomacy, the build out of a network of dual-purpose border villages along Tibet’s border, expansion of colonial-style boarding schools, and environmental destruction with the construction of dams and rampant mining operations.

Prior to her stint at RFA, Tenzin served as Editor of Strategic Initiatives at Economic Times and as Head of Editorial and Chief Integration Officer at YourStory Media. She also spent a decade with Reuters as a business journalist and newsroom leader. At Reuters, she was most recently Editor-in-Charge of several teams covering different regions; there, she spearheaded the creation of the newsroom’s first-ever dual-language Middle East news team – significantly boosting coverage from the region. She began her career as an assistant producer with business news channel CNBC-TV18. Tenzin holds a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism and a B.A. in Journalism from Christ College in India.

Chinua Achebe