Ailsa Chang
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Chang is a former Planet Money correspondent, where she got to geek out on the law while covering the underground asylum industry in the largest Chinatown in America, privacy rights in the cell phone age, the government's doomed fight to stop racist trademarks, and the money laundering case federal agents built against one of President Trump's top campaign advisers.
Previously, she was a congressional correspondent with NPR's Washington Desk. She covered battles over healthcare, immigration, gun control, executive branch appointments, and the federal budget.
Chang started out as a radio reporter in 2009, and has since earned a string of national awards for her work. In 2012, she was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her investigation into the New York City Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" policy and allegations of unlawful marijuana arrests by officers. The series also earned honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She was also the recipient of the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award, a National Headliner Award, and an honor from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigation on how Detroit's broken public defender system leaves lawyers with insufficient resources to effectively represent their clients.
In 2011, the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Chang as the winner of the Art Athens Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting for radio. In 2015, she won a National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for her coverage of Capitol Hill.
Prior to coming to NPR, Chang was an investigative reporter at NPR Member station WNYC from 2009 to 2012 in New York City, focusing on criminal justice and legal affairs. She was a Kroc fellow at NPR from 2008 to 2009, as well as a reporter and producer for NPR Member station KQED in San Francisco.
The former lawyer served as a law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University where she received her bachelor's degree.
She earned her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she won the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the best piece written by a student in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.
Chang was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where she received a master's degree in media law. She also has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she never got to have a dog. But now she's the proud mama of Mickey Chang, a shih tzu who enjoys slapping high-fives and mingling with senators.
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Greta Lee stars in the new movie Past Lives. She talks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about the film and the ways language and identity are intertwined.
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Short Wave on singing gibbons, tai chi's health benefits, and gender disparity with exercise resultsNPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Regina Barber and Rachel Carlson of Short Wave about singing gibbons, how tai chi might lower blood pressure, and why women get quicker benefits from exercise than men.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino about her latest piece, which chronicles the rollout of New York's social justice-oriented weed legalization program.
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Taiwan has endured a long history of colonization. As a trip to the culinary center of Tainan reveals, those outside forces have helped create a cuisine that is distinctly Taiwanese. -
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Katey Lesneski, research coordinator for coral restoration at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. She's been checking on restored corals, which struggled in 2023.
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With Beyoncé on top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Francesca Royster, author of Black Country Music, about the history of Black women in country music.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Mary Ziegler, UC Davis law professor, about the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that says frozen embryos are people and individuals can be held liable for destroying them.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander about Trump's fortune and the resources he has to pay huge legal settlements.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with video game journalist Rebekah Valentine about the trends that are driving layoffs across the industry.
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Taiwan has endured colonial forces over centuries. The island's Indigenous people have borne the brunt of this violent history and are still fighting for inclusion and acceptance.
