Elise Hu
Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.
Before joining NPR, she was one of the founding reporters at The Texas Tribune, a non-profit digital news startup devoted to politics and public policy. While at the Tribune, Hu oversaw television partnerships and multimedia projects, contributed to The New York Times' expanded Texas coverage, and pushed for editorial innovation across platforms.
An honors graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia's School of Journalism, she previously worked as the state political reporter for KVUE-TV in Austin, WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, and reported from Asia for the Taipei Times.
Her work at NPR has earned a DuPont-Columbia award and a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her video series, Elise Tries. Her previous work has earned a Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism, a National Edward R. Murrow award for best online video, and beat reporting awards from the Texas Associated Press. The Austin Chronicle once dubiously named her the "Best TV Reporter Who Can Write."
Outside of work, Hu has taught digital journalism at Northwestern University and Georgetown University's journalism schools and served as a guest co-host for TWIT.tv's program, Tech News Today. She's on the board of Grist Magazine and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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NPR opened a South Korea bureau in March. Correspondent Elise Hu offers her take on the wonder and the wackiness of life and journalism in East Asia. -
Street performers are a common sight in Kuala Lumpur, but they weren't always welcome. An effort to bring buskers together, along with support from the Tourism Ministry, helped change their image. -
Online shopping has changed how we approach the buying experience. And stores have adapted with the temporary, pop-up model — a seasonal offer for some, a long-term approach for others. -
Monks at the top Buddhist temple in Seoul had been trying to prevent South Korean police from forcibly entering to arrest a wanted labor organizer. He surrendered after a lengthy standoff. -
The term is used disparagingly, as in a fruit that's soft and tends to bruise easily. But millennials say they are building a new economy for their own generation. -
As Europe grapples with its refugee crisis, another one is playing out in Southeast Asia. It involves ethnic Rohingya, the largest group of stateless people on the planet. -
Malaysia's leader is at the center of a swirling scandal involving millions — if not billions — in missing money. It's complicating a crucial U.S. relationship in Southeast Asia. -
Aircraft were grounded, the stock market opened an hour late and police officers gave free rides to students rushing to Korea's all-important college entrance exam. -
These days, owners are asking for their four-legged friends to be styled as spheres and squares. We visit the Taiwanese grooming shop where the geometric grooming trend took root. -
A meaningful moment in Asia, as the leaders of China and Taiwan sit down for their first direct meeting since the end of the Chinese Civil War.
