Ailsa Chang
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Chang is a former Planet Money correspondent, where she got to geek out on the law while covering the underground asylum industry in the largest Chinatown in America, privacy rights in the cell phone age, the government's doomed fight to stop racist trademarks, and the money laundering case federal agents built against one of President Trump's top campaign advisers.
Previously, she was a congressional correspondent with NPR's Washington Desk. She covered battles over healthcare, immigration, gun control, executive branch appointments, and the federal budget.
Chang started out as a radio reporter in 2009, and has since earned a string of national awards for her work. In 2012, she was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her investigation into the New York City Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" policy and allegations of unlawful marijuana arrests by officers. The series also earned honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She was also the recipient of the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award, a National Headliner Award, and an honor from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigation on how Detroit's broken public defender system leaves lawyers with insufficient resources to effectively represent their clients.
In 2011, the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Chang as the winner of the Art Athens Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting for radio. In 2015, she won a National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for her coverage of Capitol Hill.
Prior to coming to NPR, Chang was an investigative reporter at NPR Member station WNYC from 2009 to 2012 in New York City, focusing on criminal justice and legal affairs. She was a Kroc fellow at NPR from 2008 to 2009, as well as a reporter and producer for NPR Member station KQED in San Francisco.
The former lawyer served as a law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University where she received her bachelor's degree.
She earned her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she won the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the best piece written by a student in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.
Chang was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where she received a master's degree in media law. She also has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she never got to have a dog. But now she's the proud mama of Mickey Chang, a shih tzu who enjoys slapping high-fives and mingling with senators.
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The Trump administration said it will end the Temporary Protected Status program for Afghanistan this summer. That means more than 9,000 refugees may be forced back to the Taliban-ruled country.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Col. Bree Fram, an openly transgender member of the U.S. Space Force, about the Supreme Court upholding Trump's ban on transgender military service members. -
The long-awaited resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers begins Tuesday. A judge will determine whether they'll get a reduced sentence. A parole board and the governor also get a say.
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Do you volunteer or know someone who does? In a new series called "Here to Help," we are sharing stories of people across the U.S. who give back to the community.
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This week, the internet was up in arms over who would win in battle: 100 men or a single silverback gorilla? One expert says the real fight is much bigger. -
Recent reports and surveys are showing that for a growing number of women who are not married prefer to stay single over getting married.
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Amid tariff confusion, online vendors are looking to recruit new customers. -
DHS said it was conducting wellness checks on students who arrived unaccompanied to the border. The head of the Los Angeles Unified School District has a different account. -
Rep. Jeff Hurd, of Colorado, is among a small group of Republicans openly challenging President Trump's authority over tariffs. Hurd is co-sponsoring a bill that would require Congressional approval. -
During a heated Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner described the actions of the nation's top intelligence officials as "sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior.
