Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Known for interviews with presidents and Congressional leaders, Inskeep has a passion for stories of the less famous: Pennsylvania truck drivers, Kentucky coal miners, U.S.-Mexico border detainees, Yemeni refugees, California firefighters, American soldiers.
Since joining Morning Edition in 2004, Inskeep has hosted the program from New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, Cairo, and Beijing; investigated Iraqi police in Baghdad; and received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for "The Price of African Oil," on conflict in Nigeria. He has taken listeners on a 2,428-mile journey along the U.S.-Mexico border, and 2,700 miles across North Africa. He is a repeat visitor to Iran and has covered wars in Syria and Yemen.
Inskeep says Morning Edition works to "slow down the news," making sense of fast-moving events. A prime example came during the 2008 Presidential campaign, when Inskeep and NPR's Michele Norris conducted "The York Project," groundbreaking conversations about race, which received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for excellence.
Inskeep was hired by NPR in 1996. His first full-time assignment was the 1996 presidential primary in New Hampshire. He went on to cover the Pentagon, the Senate, and the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he covered the war in Afghanistan, turmoil in Pakistan, and the war in Iraq. In 2003, he received a National Headliner Award for investigating a military raid gone wrong in Afghanistan. He has twice been part of NPR News teams awarded the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for coverage of Iraq.
On days of bad news, Inskeep is inspired by the Langston Hughes book, Laughing to Keep From Crying. Of hosting Morning Edition during the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession, he told Nuvo magazine when "the whole world seemed to be falling apart, it was especially important for me ... to be amused, even if I had to be cynically amused, about the things that were going wrong. Laughter is a sign that you're not defeated."
Inskeep is the author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, a 2011 book on one of the world's great megacities. He is also author of Jacksonland, a history of President Andrew Jackson's long-running conflict with John Ross, a Cherokee chief who resisted the removal of Indians from the eastern United States in the 1830s.
He has been a guest on numerous TV programs including ABC's This Week, NBC's Meet the Press, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, CNN's Inside Politics and the PBS Newshour. He has written for publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic.
A native of Carmel, Indiana, Inskeep is a graduate of Morehead State University in Kentucky.
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A review of the vice presidential debate. Trump officials ask the Supreme Court to block an order that extends census counting. And, police release an internal report on the Breonna Taylor shooting.
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Friends of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist murdered by agents of his native Saudi government two years ago, have launched an organization to promote human rights and democracy in the Arab world.
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Rev. Al Sharpton spoke with NPR about his new book Rise Up. Of George Floyd's death, he said: "I had begun to see, by the time of the funeral, there had been a movement that was unlike others." -
News Brief: Kentucky Protests, Coronavirus Cases, Hospital Data RuleTwo Louisville police are shot after charges in Breonna Taylor case spark protests. Which group is driving COVID-19 infections? And, hospitals failing to report COVID-19 data face a federal crackdown.
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Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are competing for voters in key swing states like Pennsylvania. But is either of the major parties trying to engage Black voters in cities like Pittsburgh? -
President Trump plans to announce his Supreme Court pick on Saturday. The pandemic continues to hurt minority households. And, the U.S. officially exits the Paris climate accords on Nov. 4.
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Where things stand with the vacancy on the Supreme Court. When a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, who should get it first? And, world leaders will address the U.N. General Assembly virtually.
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Wildfires burn in every region of Oregon. New book says President Trump downplayed seriousness of COVID-19. And, whistleblower says Homeland Security told him to stop reporting on Russia threat.
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The Justice Department makes an unprecedented move to protect President Trump. A COVID-19 vaccine is a key issue in the presidential race. And, the police chief in Rochester, N.Y., has resigned.
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How will the U.S. economy recover after the pandemic? Firefighters attempt to rescue hundreds of people trapped by a wildfire. And, Michael Cohen, President Trump's former attorney, publishes a book.
