
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.
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Palestinian officials will ask international donors for $4 billion to help rebuild Gaza after the recent war. That was the third deadly conflict in 6 years between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
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An odd, beautiful and persnickety citrus fruit has its big moment during the Jewish fall festival of Sukkot. But then what do you do with it?
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Palestinian kids in Gaza went back to school this past week in buildings damaged by the war, with children homeless and traumatized, and more than the usual overcrowding they face every year.
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Hamas and Israel stopped fighting weeks ago. But feuding continues between the two main factions on the Palestinian side — Hamas and Fatah. Their battle has an impact on relations with Israel as well.
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The military is still looking into many of the cases, but announced this week that criminal investigations have been filed so far in five episodes.
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The shooting has stopped in Gaza, but the Israelis and Palestinians are now at odds over a large chunk of West Bank land where Israel plans to build more homes for settlers.
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U.S. U.N. and Palestinian officials have criticized the decision. The land at the heart of the dispute hugs the line separating the West Bank from Israel and reaches in toward Palestinian villages.
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Israel and Hamas have agreed on a cease-fire, which raises hopes of an end to the seven-week war in Gaza that has killed more than 2,000 people.
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In Gaza City, one business in particular is thriving: Ice Man. People line up to buy bags of crushed ice to cool drinks and keep medications at the right temperature — as long as the owner can get gasoline for his generator.
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The brother and mother of a Hamas fighter who was killed in a tunnel recall his path into militancy. They're pleased he died for what they consider a good cause.