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.
-
How might Americans' experience with inflation translate into votes? Putin raises the stakes as he watches Russia practice for nuclear war. Hospitals near capacity with severe virus patients.
-
The veteran rock star speaks with Morning Edition about his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story — and in particular, his deep-rooted spirituality.
-
When Hurricane Ian slammed into Fort Myers, Fla., it left a trail of destruction from high winds and storm surge flooding. As people get back into their communities, they're deciding what's next.
-
Now that Hurricane Ian has moved on, Floridians are assessing damage. Moscow is officially annexing four Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine. Two ideological opposites aim to be Brazil's president.
-
President Putin says he's officially annexing four regions in Ukraine, after holding so-called referendums that the international community broadly denounced as a sham.
-
Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy emerge as the single largest party. Her coalition will be able to form the next government, and Meloni is expected to become Italy's first female prime minister.
-
Military-age men continue to flee Russia after President Putin ordered the country's first mobilization since WWII. Many are arriving in Istanbul, where they can travel without a visa.
-
Italy is set to usher in its first far-right government since World War II. Military-age men flee Russia after a partial mobilization is enacted. Later today NASA is going to try to move an asteroid.
-
The White House is convening a day-long conference this week to review new proposals for tackling food insecurity and diet-related chronic disease.
-
Morning Edition's Poet-in-Residence Kwame Alexander took poetry submissions from NPR listeners and turned them into a community-made poem for the new school year.