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 talks to Andrew Selee of the Migration Policy Institute, about President-elect Donald Trump's promise to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
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The list includes the first woman to serve as chief of staff. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to author and reporter Annie Karni about how President-elect Donald Trump may engage women for prominent roles.
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The SS United States, a record-breaking American ocean liner from the 1950s, will take its final voyage from Philadelphia to the Gulf of Mexico this week.
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President-elect Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the Affordable Care Act during his first term. What action will he take this time around?
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Republicans won the White House and Senate and maybe the House. Does Donald Trump’s win threaten the future of Obamacare? Israel’s ousted defense minister says there’s nothing more to achieve in Gaza.
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NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with investigative reporter Ronan Farrow of "The New Yorker" about Elon Musk's influence on U.S. government affairs.
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NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Republic Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida about what went right for Republicans in the 2024 election.
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Donald Trump built a broad coalition to become the first president since Grover Cleveland to win non-consecutive terms.
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A deeper dive into Wednesday's post-election interview with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his skepticism of public health expertise.
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NPR's Michel Martin talks with Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, about the role of female voters in the 2024 election.