Leila Fadel (born 1981) is a Lebanese American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and the cohost of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

,'' a role she assumed in 2022. She was previously the network's

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

bureau chief. Fadel has chiefly worked in the Middle East, and received a George Polk Award for her coverage of the Iraq War. She is also known for her coverage of the Arab Spring.

Background

Fadel grew up in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. She was a

Jack Shaheen Jack George Shaheen Jr. (; September 21, 1935 – July 9, 2017) was an American writer and lecturer specializing in addressing racial and ethnic stereotypes. He authored ''Reel Bad Arabs'' (adapted to a 2006 documentary), ''The TV Arab'' (1984) ...

Mass Communications scholar and graduated from Northeastern University School of Journalism in 2004.

Career

In 2004, Fadel began her career in journalism at the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' as a crime and higher education reporter. She began covering the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

in 2005 for

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

. By early 2006, she had completed two postings in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Then, she returned to Baghdad for McClatchy. She also covered the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. She continued in Baghdad for McClatchy through 2009, where she contributed to McClatchy's ''Baghdad Observer''. In 2010, she joined ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' Middle East team. On February 2, 2011, Fadel and photographer Linda Davidson were among some two dozen journalists arrested by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. The next day, Fadel and Davidson were released, but placed under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

at a hotel. Two local ''Post'' employees remained in custody, interpreter Sufian Taha and driver Mansour el-Sayed Mohammed Abo Gouda; according to Fadel, Abo Gouda was beaten. She covered the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

and its aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria for ''The Washington Post''. In July 2012, Fadel was hired by NPR as Cairo bureau chief and covered the aftermath of the Arab Spring. She was a national correspondent at NPR reporting on race and diversity until she became host of ''Morning Edition'', as well as NPR's morning news podcast ''Up First''..

Personal

Fadel speaks conversational

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. In 2006, she stated:

My goal is to find the missing voices, the ones I heard on the streets of Beirut and Saudi Arabia but which were often missing in American media... Great journalism is the ability to capture moments in time, weave them together, and tell the story of all people without condescension, without judgment and without an agenda.

Awards

* 2007 - George Polk Award * 2006 - Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club * 2005 - Print Journalist of the Year honors from the Houston Press Club

Recognition

* In 2008,

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council ...

interviewed Fadel on ''Bill Moyers' Journal''. * In 2011,

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...

interviewed her on ''The Charlie Rose Show'' with mentor Anthony Shadid.

References

External links

NPR
Leila Fadel

''BillMoyers'', April 18, 2008
"Farewell to Iraq"
''McClatchy''
"Interview with News Correspondents in Iraq, Leila Fadel and Ben Lando, at IE University "
March 8, 2010
"Journalist Leila Fadel reflects upon returning from Iraq"
''Daily Kos'', Aug 05, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fadel, Leila 1981 births George Polk Award recipients Living people Northeastern University alumni American people of Lebanese descent NPR personalities American journalists of Arab descent 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists