Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Emily Harris

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.

  • The United Nations Security Council is about to receive a report on Iran's nuclear program. The watchdog agency is expected to report that Iran has defied a U.N. order to stop enriching uranium.
  • Some progress was reported during weekend talks in Vienna between Iran's top nuclear negotiator and the EU's foreign-policy chief. Iran has reportedly offered to temporarily suspend nuclear-enrichment activities.
  • European foreign ministers meet in Brussels in an attempt to clearly define Europe's role in a U.N. peacekeeping force for Lebanon. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's presence shows the importance the U.N. attaches to a strong European component for the force.
  • German authorities hold a 21-year-old student from Lebanon, charged in connection with two bombs found hidden in suitcases on German trains last month. Authorities warn of a heightened risk of a terrorist attack. They are searching for a second suspect.
  • Germany, the World Cup host country, lost 2-0 to Italy in a semi-final match Tuesday. The Italians scored twice in the match's waning moments after 118 minutes of scoreless play. The defeat left some German fans in a philosophical mood, looking forward to the next World Cup.
  • Berlin's controversial memorial to the Jews who died in the Holocaust is open to the public after years of controversy over its design. The first visitors Thursday shared their impressions on whether the memorial is too abstract. Some of them said it has the disorienting effect and helpless feeling that its architect tried to achieve.
  • Two weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II, the process of electing a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church formally begins. The public was invited to Monday morning's Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. But the actual conclave, meeting in the Sistine Chapel, is shrouded in secrecy.
  • China passes a law that would authorize military force to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence. This move intensifies worries among members of the U.S. Congress as the EU considers lifting an arms embargo against Beijing. An EU delegation arrives in Washington to discuss the issue.
  • Iraqi officials say more than 8 million voters went to the polls Sunday, despite a string of suicide bombings and mortar attacks that killed at least 35 Iraqis. But turnout was very low among Sunnis, a group Iraq's interim government desperately wanted to include in the process.
  • Millions of Iraqis defied death threats and violence to vote in the country's first contested election in a half century. Polling was marred by several suicide bombings around Baghdad, and a government official reported 30 people killed around Iraq. NPR's Emily Harris reports.