Robert Siegel
Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.
In 2010, Siegel was recognized by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with the John Chancellor Award. Siegel has been honored with three Silver Batons from Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University, first in 1984 for All Things Considered's coverage of peace movements in East and West Germany. He shared in NPR's 1996 Silver Baton Award for "The Changing of the Guard: The Republican Revolution," for coverage of the first 100 days of the 104th Congress. He was part of the NPR team that won a Silver Baton for the network's coverage of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.
Other awards Siegel has earned include a 1997 American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for the two-part documentary, "Murder, Punishment, and Parole in Alabama" and the National Mental Health Association's 1991 Mental Health Award for his interviews conducted on the streets of New York in an All Things Considered story, "The Mentally Ill Homeless."
Siegel joined NPR in December 1976 as a newscaster and became an editor the following year. In 1979, Siegel became NPR's first staffer based overseas when he was chosen to open NPR's London bureau, where he worked as senior editor until 1983. After London, Siegel served for four years as director of the News and Information Department, overseeing production of NPR's newsmagazines All Things Considered and Morning Edition, as well as special events and other news programming. During his tenure, NPR launched its popular Saturday and Sunday newsmagazine Weekend Edition. He became host of All Things Considered in 1987.
Before coming to NPR, Siegel worked for WRVR Radio in New York City as a reporter, host and news director. He was part of the WRVR team honored with an Armstrong Award for the series, "Rockefeller's Drug Law." Prior to WRVR, he was morning news reporter and telephone talk show host for WGLI Radio in Babylon, New York.
A graduate of New York's Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University, Siegel began his career in radio at Columbia's radio station, WKCR-FM. As a student he anchored coverage of the 1968 Columbia demonstrations and contributed to the work that earned the station an award from the Writers Guild of America East.
Siegel was the editor of The NPR Interviews 1994, The NPR Interviews 1995 and The NPR Interviews 1996, compilations of NPR's most popular radio conversations from each year.
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The Obama administration is considering military action against Syria. The debate over what to do follows the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government last week.
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Thousands of firefighters are battling the massive Rim Fire burning in and around Yosemite National Park in California. The fire has already burned more than 149,000 acres.
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The New York Yankees and their star slugger Alex Rodriguez are embroiled in a very public dispute over his future. The Yankees want him gone, but Rodriguez says he's ready to play.
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There have been more mass protests in Cairo and other cities. Analysts fear more violence amid expectations of a crackdown on Islamists by the army and police.
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In addition to Georgia, a handful of other states — Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Alabama — have dropped out of or scaled back their participation in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness in College and Career (PARCC) consortium. Florida's education commissioner is mulling a similar decision. We discuss what it could mean for the success of the standards.
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The debate over comprehensive immigration reform has many sticking points, one of which is how to handle undocumented immigrants with criminal histories. While some immigration advocates think the language put forth in the Senate bill is overly punitive to people who have committed minor crimes, others argue that the legislation provides safe haven to criminals who could be dangerous to our country. Robert Siegel meets several undocumented immigrants who have criminal records that have already led to immigration consequences.
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The House rejected a measure that would have ended funding for a National Security Agency program that collects the phone records of Americans. The amendment to the defense spending bill had the support of liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans, but was opposed by the Obama administration.
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Senate Democrats appear so fed up enough by Republicans blocking President Obama's appointments that they are preparing to change Senate rules. The so-called "nuclear option" would end the use of the filibuster when it comes to appointments, dramatically diminishing the power of the minority party in the chamber.
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Inspired by the recent release of the movie The Lone Ranger, we return to the thrilling days of yesteryear — 2008 — for an encore broadcast of a profile of the Lone Ranger for the series "In Character."
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Robert Siegel talks to NPR's Scott Horsley about the White House's reactions to Wednesday events in Egypt, where President Mohammed Morsi was ousted from power. In a statement, President Obama said he was "deeply concerned" by the Egyptian military's actions and that "ultimately the future of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people."