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.
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With a new school year underway, we're wondering what goals you might be setting for yourselves. NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander asks you to write about one of your goals in the form of a poem. -
Néstor was 11 when he and his dad, Melvin, left El Salvador and crossed into Texas in 2018. They were separated for over two months, split apart by the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy.
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More women than men left the workforce during the pandemic, many because they had to care for children. A business council wants companies to take the lead in expanding child care and elder care. -
The National Restaurant Association is recommending to its members that employees continue to wear masks until the government clarifies how the guidance applies to a requirement to keep workers safe. -
Children's immunizations dropped dramatically during the pandemic, and health officials are eager to get kids caught back up on their routine shots before they return to school. -
"It would have been unimaginable just even a month ago that something like that was possible," activist and civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong says following Derek Chauvin's murder conviction. -
A mother of three in Canada was opposed to getting her kids vaccinated against childhood diseases. The pandemic led her out of that movement. Getting there was a years-long search for answers. -
Ada Calhoun talked to a lot of Gen X women about the angst they feel as they approach midlife — the pressure to have it all and the feeling that they should have done better for themselves.
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The tiny principality of Liechtenstein spreads across a grand total of 62 square miles. Now, it's getting smaller.
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The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has struggled financially, but after much work, it's set itself on solid footing and become a bright spot in a struggling city.
