CoastLine: NPR's Melissa Block On The New Political Order And Covering Tragic Events

By Rachel Lewis Hilburn

Published July 1, 2021 at 12:34 PM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Melissa Block served as All Things Considered Host for more than 12 years. She is now an NPR Special Correspondent.

If you’re a long-time All Things Considered listener, you will remember Melissa Block as the anchor paired with Robert Siegel for more than a decade -- from 2003 to 2015. Then, Melissa Block stepped away from the anchor desk to immerse herself in feature reporting. Over the course of her 32-year career at NPR, she has covered domestic and international news – including the 9/11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and the massive 2008 earthquake in China. In this conversation recorded in 2017, we hear about what it's like to cover tragic events and why she never imagined a career like this.

If you’re a long-time All Things Considered listener, you will remember Melissa Block as the anchor paired with Robert Siegel for more than a decade -- from 2003 to 2015. Then, Melissa Block stepped away from the anchor desk to immerse herself in feature reporting. Over the course of her 32-year career at NPR, she has covered domestic and international news – including the 9/11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and the massive 2008 earthquake in China. In this conversation recorded in 2017, we hear about what it's like to cover tragic events and why she never imagined a career like this.

That reporting earned her and NPR broadcast journalism's top honors, including a George Foster Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia Award, and Edward R. Murrow Award – among others.