San Francisco Bay Area
SF-based Peabody, DuPont and Overseas Press Club award-winning broadcast and multimedia reporter and guest host for NPR News. http://www.npr.org/ In 2014 after a year at Stanford University as a journalism fellow I worked with a small team to help build and launch NPR's new multimedia education platform NPR Ed http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/ I currently work on-air and online covering a broad range of education news, issues, and trends from pre-K to higher education across America. I also serve as a regular guest host for NPR News magazines including Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, All Things Considered Weekend, and Here & Now. On the ed beat, I have a strong interest in issues of equity, access and the multiple ways in which technology is changing traditional pedagogy, student learning and design of schools. Prior to helping launch the education platform I worked for nearly a decade as Foreign Correspondent with NPR's International Desk including postings in Iraq, Israel-Palestinian Territories, Europe, as well as reporting from North Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf regions, among other places. I returned to the U.S. for a Stanford University J.S Knight Journalism Fellowship in 2012-2013. The Knight Fellowship is a one year program focused on moving journalism forward. Before going overseas I worked on NPR's National Desk as a Correspondent. I had sevearl national beats during my time on that desk including national security, the Pentagon, law enforcement and police-community relations, among other beats. A small sample of major stories covered for NPR include the wars in Iraq, Israel-Gaza and the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Lebanon, as well as the "Arab spring" revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. I've also covered the Greek and European debt crises, the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the Columbine massacre, the 2000 presidential recount in Florida, among many other national and international stories
News reporter and guest host @NPR News. Currently working on-air and online covering education in America and serve as guest host for NPR programs. http://www.npr.org/people/2101350/eric-westervelt
One of 21 media professionals worldwide selected by Stanford University to join the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships program. At Stanford and in tandem with Silicon Valley companies, the fellowship focuses on fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership into the media ecosystem.The J S Knight Fellowships support passionate journalists, innovators, and entrepreneurs as they work to create new models, tools and approaches that are redefining journalism. Through the years, one core mission of the Knight Fellowships remains the same: To improve the quality of news and information reaching the public. Knight fellows come from all over the world and from all types of journalism, including online news sites, radio and television, non-profit news start-ups, blogs and ethnic media. Fellows explore and use Stanford and take their cues from our partners and allies in Silicon Valley, as they prototype, refine and retest their ideas focused on the future of news in the digital age.
Europe Correspondent and Berlin Bureau Chief NPR 2009-2012. Rebuilt a Berlin office mothballed for more than two years into a pillar of NPR’s European coverage by expanding the bureau’s news lens and geographic reach. Stories covered include the Greek, Spanish and Euro Zone debt crisis; Eastern Europe’s political and financial struggles; Far right resurgence; revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and the civil war and uprising Libya; migrant crisis. Also produced regular features on cultural trends, musicians and more. Regular contributor to NPR's "Crime in the City" series on crime novelists. Frequent news travel across Germany as well as Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain, North Africa and elsewhere.
Oversaw a busy news bureau and covered breaking news as well as political and cultural trends in Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip as well as support coverage for news across the Middle East. Major stories included multiple Israeli-Palestinian armed conflicts in Gaza; the Fatah-Hamas Palestinian civil war in Gaza; the Second Lebanon War between Hezbollah and Israel; the Hamas-led abduction of an Israeli solider and ensuing battles; the 2008-2009 Israel-Hamas war in Gaza; the machinations of the stalled peace process, US policy in the region, and more. Traveled frequently to neighboring states for news including Iraq, Egypt and Jordan. Won an Overseas Press Club Award for a multimedia series “Israel’s Barrier” with NPR photojournalist David Gilkey.
Covered a broad range of major domestic stories from the crash of TWA flight 800 to the Columbine school massacre and the 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York. Developed a national beat covering trends in law enforcement including police use of force, frayed police-community relations, ‘zero tolerance’ crime fighting tactics, racial profiling, community policing, diversity and police-minority relations, and the drug war. Also covered the post-Columbine gun rights and gun control fights in America and the landmark liability lawsuits by American cities against the firearms industry.