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.
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With a new school year underway, we're wondering what goals you might be setting for yourselves. NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander asks you to write about one of your goals in the form of a poem. -
As the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan last year, Marine Corps veteran Elliot Ackerman was frantically rebuilding a network of old allies to help desperate Afghans escape. -
Morning Edition asked readers to submit poems in the form of letters, addressed to anyone. NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander drew from the more than 600 responses to create a community poem. -
Many people traded in slacks for sweatpants during the worst of the pandemic and are now figuring out what to wear back to the office. Here's what that looks like, from Wall Street to Capitol Hill. -
From Lahore's red-light district and the streets of Mexico to a fantastical underwater land of Korean fable, here are some picks that can immerse you in worlds wholly unlike your own. -
At the beginning of lockdown, the legendary funk bassist began posting uplifting messages to Instagram, where they found a receptive audience in drummer Adam Deitch of the band Lettuce. -
As part of teacher appreciation month, Morning Edition asked NPR's audience to write a poem about teachers who have had an impact on their lives. -
Either/Or is Batuman's sequel to her bestselling Pulitzer finalist novel The Idiot. -
NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Rick Martínez about his new cookbook Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico. -
The LA-based group was, naturally, waylaid by the pandemic — just enough to write a new record, Radiate Like This.
