Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
-
Relief operations get under way in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, which has brought destruction to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The storm remains at Category 4 strength as it heads westward. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Ernest Pate of Pan American Health Organization.
-
A Scientology-based drug treatment center has been offering free anti-drug lectures to California schools. NPR's Jennifer Ludden talks to Nanette Asimov of The San Francisco Chronicle, who has reported that the lectures are not just religion-tinged, but filled with bad science. The San Francisco School Advisory Board has ended the lectures.
-
Insurgents in Iraq unleash one of the heaviest mortar and rocket barrages yet in Baghdad. Dozens were reported dead, including some who were reported killed when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis celebrated around it. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Peter Kenyon.
-
The Latino vote was seen as a key to President Bush's successful 2000 campaign. This year, Democrats are working harder to court Florida Hispanics, while the president has dropped one-on-one interviews in Spanish for ads in Spanish-language media outlets. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Jorge Ramos, news anchor for Univision. -
Hurricane Ivan, the worst storm to hit the Caribbean in a decade, spares Jamaica the brunt of its force. But the storm is gaining strength as it heads for the Cayman Islands and Cuba. It could make landfall in Florida early next week. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Jamaican broadcaster Dervan Malcom.
-
You know her voice from "Breathe," a song that filled the airwaves for a car ad. Now Scottish singer Angela McCluskey has a debut solo CD: "The Things We Do." She chats with NPR's Jennifer Ludden. -
Hurricane Frances stalls off the east coast of Florida. The effect of the storm's slow progress may be to inundate areas of the state with torrential rains. Power is already out for hundreds of thousands of Floridians. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Jon Hamilton.
-
Violence erupts in northern Iraq, as a suicide bomber kills at least 17 people and wounds dozens more outside a police academy in Kirkuk. Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi forces fight with insurgents near Mosul. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Ivan Watson.
-
New York's Central Park was the scene of demonstrations Sunday as activists protested Republican policies in advance of the party's national convention, which begins Monday. Organizers of a march called "Billionaires for Bush" are among the groups hoping to confront party supporters when the sessions begin. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden, NPR's Margot Adler and NPR's Nancy Solomon.
-
A car bomb explodes in Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul, killing at least seven people. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast. The violence is reportedly part of a stepped-up pattern of attacks in the weeks leading up to Afghanistan's October elections. NPR's Jennifer Ludden talks to Pamela Constable of The Washington Post.
