
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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NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews Rice as she leaves her job as top domestic policy adviser to President Biden. Rice says that on divisive subjects, the best hope was often to take the least bad option.
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The nation's COVID-19 public health emergency declaration is ending. Here's what is and isn't changing.
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White House bipartisan meeting aims to avert a government default. Russia scales back annual Victory Day parade. American Psychological Association issues guidance for teens' use of social media.
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Saudi Arabia and Iran work to normalize relations. For a second day, Israeli police clash with Palestinians. Tennessee House to decide whether to expel three Democratic lawmakers for violating rules.
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As a deeply polarized Pakistan confronts political and economic crises, Imran Khan, the embattled former prime minister, speaks with NPR from his home in Lahore.
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Financial markets are on edge over troubles at Credit Suisse. The Biden administration is demanding that TikTok be sold. New CDC data show the maternal mortality rate jumped over 40% in 2021.
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With the Republicans in total control, and Gov. Ron DeSantis empowered after his landslide victory in November, the legislative session in Florida is gearing up to pass a lot of conservative laws.
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Russian forces have begun an offensive in eastern Ukraine. Residents near a derailed freight train in Ohio worry about toxic chemicals. One of the deadliest U.S. federal prison units is closing.
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Rep. Hakeem Jeffries insists the looming debt ceiling crisis will be resolved without his party submitting to demands by Republicans who want to tie government spending cuts to a debt limit hike.
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The U.S. economy did well in 2022, but recession fears grow. Donald Trump will be allowed back on Facebook and Instagram. Social media companies face pressure to crack down on online fentanyl sales.