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.
-
Treated sewage water accounts for half the water used by Israel's farms. Entrepreneurs are experimenting with ways to cut costs and to ensure that the 86 percent of wastewater that's recycled is safe. -
A Palestinian man in Ramallah faces charges of insulting officials — based on his Facebook comments. This case and others point to the limits to free speech under the Palestinian Authority. -
Israel's long-standing policy has been to isolate Hamas. But in a rare exception, Israel does permit Qatar to send large sums of money for projects in Gaza, the territory run by Hamas. -
After decades of work, Israel now gets about a quarter of its water from the sea. But experts say desalination is not a magic bullet, and conservation and infrastructure fixes are also needed. -
The human rights organization says Hamas deliberately killed at least 23 Palestinians during the war with Israel last summer. Those killed were accused by Hamas of collaborating with Israel. -
Conservatives in Tira pushed back hard at the idea of women and men running together in a public race. Someone went so far as to shoot at race organizer Haneen Radi's car. For now, the run is off. -
The head of FIFA visited Israel and the West Bank this week, where Palestinians are petitioning to expel Israel from soccer's governing body — and its biggest international tournaments. -
Israel is investigating potential criminal actions by its troops last summer during the war against Hamas in Gaza, including three attacks that killed nearly 50 civilians taking refuge in schools. -
Ayelet Shaked is a secular Jew who belongs to a religious party closely tied to West Bank settlers. She's faced criticism for controversial statements about Palestinians. -
Older Palestinians can enter Israel without prior authorization; 100 Palestinian doctors are now permitted to drive to work. An Israeli officer describes these modest policy changes as an experiment.
