Rachel Martin
Rachel Martin is a host of Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Before taking on this role in December 2016, Martin was the host of Weekend Edition Sunday for four years. Martin also served as National Security Correspondent for NPR, where she covered both defense and intelligence issues. She traveled regularly to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Secretary of Defense, reporting on the U.S. wars and the effectiveness of the Pentagon's counterinsurgency strategy. Martin also reported extensively on the changing demographic of the U.S. military – from the debate over whether to allow women to fight in combat units – to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Her reporting on how the military is changing also took her to a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico for a rare look at how the military trains drone pilots.
Martin was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, based in New York — a two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.
In 2006-2007, Martin served as NPR's religion correspondent. Her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association in 2007. As one of NPR's reporters assigned to cover the Virginia Tech massacre that same year, she was on the school's campus within hours of the shooting and on the ground in Blacksburg, Va., covering the investigation and emotional aftermath in the following days.
Based in Berlin, Germany, Martin worked as a NPR foreign correspondent from 2005-2006. During her time in Europe, she covered the London terrorist attacks, the federal elections in Germany, the 2006 World Cup and issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.
Her foreign reporting experience extends beyond Europe. Martin has also worked extensively in Afghanistan. She began reporting from there as a freelancer during the summer of 2003, covering the reconstruction effort in the wake of the U.S. invasion. In fall 2004, Martin returned for several months to cover Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election. She has reported widely on women's issues in Afghanistan, the fledgling political and governance system and the U.S.-NATO fight against the insurgency. She has also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province.
Martin started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco, as a producer and reporter.
She holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
-
Biden's new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says "it is our shared goal to reopen schools safely and quickly." -
Ahead of writing her Song Project entry, Edmonson's focus dramatically shifted, from a budding community of fans to her Texas-based mother, who went through the ringer while they were apart. -
NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff found that parenting books she read after becoming a mom left a lot out. When she went through a tough period with her daughter, she traveled the world in search of guidance. -
A 1976 exhibit of art created by African Americans was the first major show by a Black curator and serves as a starting point for the HBO documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light. -
Some evangelical circles have incubated and spread conspiracy theories for years. It's part of a movement called Christian nationalism that researchers call a threat to American democracy. -
Wright stars in and directed the film, which follows a woman grappling with the deaths of her husband and her young son. Her grief pushes her to escape to a small, abandoned cabin in Wyoming. -
Mary Wilson began her career in Detroit in 1959 as a singer in what was then called the Primettes. The group went on to become The Supremes, with members Diana Ross and Florence Ballard.
-
The release of the band's 10th album, and a world tour in support of it, had to be put on hold thanks to you-know-what. But there's only so long folks can wait before needing some release. -
NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander's latest community poem started with a request to consider what follows after the words "I dream a world." -
Andre Perry of Brookings says discrimination against communities of color also involves lenders, zoning laws and other issues in which the Department of Housing and Urban Development is less involved.
