
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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Finland's president wants his country to join NATO. The White House faces pressure to protect abortion rights after a Senate bill failed. Schools in Las Vegas experience a sharp rise in violence.
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The wildfire in New Mexico is growing rapidly. After weeks of relentless winds, firefighters are hoping for some relief soon. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands of people evacuated.
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The CDC reports a historic increase in firearm deaths. During the pandemic, there has been a 35% increase in the firearm homicide rate, and suicides by firearm also are persistently high.
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Russia's giant air force hasn't done it much good in Ukraine. The Senate is to vote on a bill codifying Roe V. Wade into law. Firefighters in New Mexico struggle to contain a wildfire.
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Republicans jockey for options to restrict abortions nationwide. Nebraska voters will decide who will be their GOP candidate for governor. The prime minister of Sri Lanka resigns after protests.
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It's Victory Day in Russia, which marks the end of WW II. Illinois expect people from surrounding states to flock there if abortion becomes illegal. Philippine voters are selecting a new president.
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Moscow cut off all energy supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. A federal judge blocks Title 42, a pandemic immigration policy, from being rolled back. New economic data is released Thursday morning.
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Republican leaders say they'll approve maps drawn by the governor that eliminate two Black voting districts. Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted on district maps that give an extra advantage to Republicans.
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Ukraine's president says the Russian offensive in the east has begun. A federal judge has struck down the transportation mask mandate. Dozens of Chinese cities are in some kind of COVID lockdown.
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Inflation isn't just an American problem — it's happening in places around the world and stretching some countries to the point of political unrest.Many