Christina Bellantoni is a USC Professor of Professional Practice and Director of the Annenberg Media Center. A multimedia journalist with over 20 years of experience, she has worked as a reporter, editor, producer, and analyst across numerous platforms. She is the former assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Times and editor-in-chief at Roll Call.
Most recently, Bellantoni spearheaded the expansion of the California politics team and led detailed coverage of the state’s capital and congressional delegation as Assistant Managing Editor at the Los Angeles Times. Under her leadership, the team earned recognition for its commitment to promoting transparency in government, digital innovation, and diversified storytelling tactics to engage new audiences for the paper.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Bellantoni spent 12 years covering politics in Washington, D.C., including the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, four presidential campaigns, and local and state politics. As Editor-in-Chief of Roll Call, she oversaw multimedia efforts, bolstered online traffic, and enabled the paper to win various awards for its coverage of the capital. Prior to that, as political editor at PBS NewsHour, she managed all political stories and 24/7 coverage of the 2012 conventions. Bellantoni also served as White House correspondent for the Washington Times, covering President Obama. Throughout her career, she has also held positions at Talking Points Memo, the Palo Alto Daily News, and the San Jose Business Journal, and has won national journalism awards and several Bay Area awards for her breaking coverage.
As Media Center Director an Annenberg, Bellantoni provides expertise and guidance to students at Annenberg Media, USC’s multi-platform student newsroom. Under her supervision, Annenberg Media launched its politics desk in 2018, which covers political events on campus and national, state, and local political affairs.
Bellantoni is a former Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and also served as vice president of the Washington Press Club Foundation, which works to advance women and minorities in newsrooms. She is a frequent guest on television and radio, including NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and HBO.
A San Jose native, Bellantoni graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Mass Communications. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
To contact Bellantoni, email commlead@usc.edu.