
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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News Brief: Bolton Book, Atlanta Officer Charged, Fla. COVID-19 Cases SurgeA preview of former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir. The former police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks is charged with felony murder. And as Florida reopens, COVID-19 cases rise.
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President Trump is set to sign an executive order on policing. The U.S. plans to cut the number of troops to Germany. And, probes deepen into the deaths of two black men found hanging from trees.
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Josie Johnson reflect on the civil rights movement and the protests following the death of George Floyd. "We're not going to give up. We're not going to stop," Jackson says.
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Two cases involving the deaths of young black men, in Georgia and Nebraska, continue to gain national attention. And, President Trump's response to nationwide unrest has so far not been one of unity.
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An ex-defense secretary says the president is a threat to the Constitution. All officers involved in George Floyd's death have been charged. And, indications the job market is beginning to recover.
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Protesters cleared to make way for President Trump's church visit, and he threatened to send troops to states to end protests. And, store owner wishes clerk wouldn't have called 911 on George Floyd.
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Protests in response to George Floyd's killing, while he was in police custody in Minnesota, have erupted across the country. We report on protests in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
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NPR's Steve Inskeep visits a food distribution center just outside Washington, D.C., where recently laid off or furloughed people struggling to make ends meet can find food.
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China considers controversial Hong Kong security laws. Colleges prepare to reopen in the fall. And, COVID-19 delays trials at Guantanamo Bay.
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A study reveals thousands died due to coronavirus shutdown delays. Three U.S. cities remain areas of concern during the pandemic. And, a landmark Syrian war crime trial resumes in Germany.