Emily Harris
International Correspondent Emily Harris is based in Jerusalem as part of NPR's Mideast team. Her post covers news related to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She began this role in March of 2013.
Over her career, Harris has served in multiple roles within public media. She first joined NPR in 2000, as a general assignment reporter. A prolific reporter often filing two stories a day, Harris covered major stories including 9/11 and its aftermath, including the impact on the airline industry; and the anthrax attacks. She also covered how policies set in Washington are implemented across the country.
In 2002, Harris worked as a Special Correspondent on NOW with Bill Moyer, focusing on investigative storytelling. In 2003 Harris became NPR's Berlin Correspondent, covering Central and Eastern Europe. In that role, she reported regularly from Iraq, leading her to be a key member of the NPR team awarded a 2005 Peabody Award for coverage of the region.
Harris left NPR in December 2007 to become a host for a live daily program, Think Out Loud, on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Under her leadership Harris's team received three back to back Gracie Awards for Outstanding Talk Show, and a share in OPB's 2009 Peabody Award for the series "Hard Times." Harris's other awards include the RIAS Berlin Commission's first-place radio award in 2007 and second-place in 2006. She was a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University in 2005-2006.
A seasoned reporter, she was asked to help train young journalist through NPR's "Next Generation" program. She also served as editorial director for Journalism Accelerator, a project to bring journalists together to share ideas and experiences; and was a writer-in-residence teaching radio writing to high school students.
One of the aspects of her work that most intrigues her is why people change their minds and what inspires them to do so.
Outside of work, Harris has drafted a screenplay about the Iraq war and for another project is collecting stories about the most difficult parts of parenting.
She has a B.A. in Russian Studies from Yale University.
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Palestinian kids in Gaza went back to school this past week in buildings damaged by the war, with children homeless and traumatized, and more than the usual overcrowding they face every year. -
Most social networks require users to be at least 13. But Itay Eshet's daughter, like many kids, wanted to join Facebook when she was just 10. So Eshet created a site just for younger kids, designed to protect them from bullying and other risks while teaching them to navigate social media safely.
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Spas and beauty products have long touted the health benefits of floating in the buoyant Dead Sea waters and slathering its thick black mud on your skin. Now an Israeli company is promoting Dead Sea salt as a healthful gourmet product, in part because of its high mineral content. -
Ruth Calderon's first speech in parliament led some to call her the leader of a Jewish renaissance. But others view her as a real threat — to Judaism itself. -
The Buchinger Clinic in southern Germany is famous for promoting fasting as a cure-all. There is little hard science to back up the program, but that doesn't lessen its appeal to guests from around the globe. About two-thirds are repeat customers. -
Germany's far right can be a place for support and camaraderie. But once members stray from political lines, they are considered traitors. -
German officials say that they've disrupted a terrorist plot to attack Frankfurt's international airport, as well as the U.S. military base at Ramstein. A German federal prosecutor says the three suspects trained in Pakistan and aimed to make bombs larger than those used in previous attacks in London and Madrid.
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In Switzerland, one town saw global warming coming and built a dam to stop it. The Swiss resort of Pontresina, near the Italian border, is 5,900 feet above sea level, which is on the high end — even in Switzerland. But higher still, right above the town, is a mass of warming permafrost. -
Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary-general and Austrian president, has died at 88. His tenure as Austria's president was tainted by revelations that he had concealed his service in the German army in Greece during World War II, at a time when the Nazis committed numerous war crimes.
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The G-8 meeting ended Friday with the host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, claiming some progress on combating global warming. There was also a surprising improvement in U.S.-Russia relations.
