David Greene

David Greene is NPR's Morning Programming Host/Correspondent. In this role he is the primary substitute host for Morning Edition as well as Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday. When he is not hosting he brings his deep reporting talents to these programs.

For two years prior to taking on his current role in 2012, Greene was an NPR foreign correspondent based in Moscow covering the region from Ukraine and the Baltics, east to Siberia. During that time he brought listeners stories as wide ranging as Chernobyl 25 years later and Beatles-singing Russian Babushkas. He spent a month in Libya reporting riveting stories in the most difficult of circumstances as NATO bombs fell on Tripoli. He was honored with the 2011 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize from WBUR and Boston University for that coverage of the Arab Spring.

Greene's voice became familiar to NPR listeners from his four years covering the White House. To report on former President George W. Bush's second term, Greene spent hours in NPR's spacious booth in the basement of the West Wing (it's about the size of your average broom closet). He also spent time trekking across five continents, reporting on White House visits to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Rwanda, Uruguay – and, of course, Crawford, Texas.

During the days following Hurricane Katrina, Greene was aboard Air Force One when President Bush flew low over the Gulf Coast and caught his first glimpse of the storm's destruction. On the ground in New Orleans, Greene brought listeners a moving interview with the late Ethel Williams, a then-74-year-old flood victim who got an unexpected visit from the president.

Greene was an integral part of NPR's coverage of the historic 2008 election, covering Hillary Clinton's campaign from start to finish, and also focusing on how racial attitudes were playing into voters' decisions. The White House Correspondents Association took special note of Greene's report on a speech by then-candidate Barack Obama, addressing the nation's racial divide. Greene was given the association's 2008 Merriman Smith award for deadline coverage of the presidency.

After President Obama took office, Greene kept one eye trained on the White House and the other eye on the road. He spent three months driving across America – with a recorder, camera and lots of caffeine – to learn how the recession was touching Americans during President Obama's first 100 days in office. The series was called "100 Days: On the Road in Troubled Times."

Before joining NPR in 2005, Greene spent nearly seven years as a newspaper reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He covered the White House during the Bush administration's first term, and wrote about an array of other topics for the paper: Why Oklahomans love the sport of cockfighting, why two Amish men in Pennsylvania were caught trafficking methamphetamine and how one woman brought Christmas back to a small town in Maryland.

Before graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1998 with a degree in government, Greene worked as the senior editor on the Harvard Crimson. In 2004, he was named co-volunteer of the year for Coaching for College, a Washington, D.C., program offering tutoring to inner-city youth.

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Around the Nation
5:29 am
Tue April 16, 2013

Boston Commuters Try To Get Back To Normal

Originally published on Tue April 16, 2013 2:04 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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Race
4:42 am
Mon April 15, 2013

New NPR Team Covers Race, Ethnicity And Culture

Originally published on Mon April 15, 2013 1:28 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This week we're introducing a new team at NPR that will cover race, ethnicity and culture. We're here with Gene Demby, who's the team's lead blogger. Gene, thanks for coming in.

GENE DEMBY, BYLINE: Hey, David. Good to talk to you again.

GREENE: It's good to talk to you too. OK. So tell me about your blog, the name of it.

DEMBY: OK. Our blog and our team is called Code Switch.

GREENE: Code Switch. OK. You've got to explain this to us.

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Sports
5:15 am
Thu April 11, 2013

Woods Is Favored To Win Masters And 5th Green Jacket

Originally published on Thu April 11, 2013 10:59 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Well, the first round of golf's first major tournament of the year tees off today. And if people are not excited enough about the Masters, there is added drama this year. The most recognizable golfer on the planet, Tiger Woods, is a bonafide favorite to win his fifth green jacket. NPR's Tom Goldman has been wandering, strolling the grounds of golf's most storied course. He joins us now from Augusta, Georgia. And, Tom, how did you get this assignment?

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hard duty, David.

GREENE: Really.

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NPR Story
5:01 am
Mon April 8, 2013

Religious Tensions Escalate In Egypt

Originally published on Mon April 8, 2013 10:09 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Steve Inskeep is reporting from Venezuela this week as that nation holds a presidential election. I'm David Greene in Washington. Over the weekend, Egypt suffered the worse religious violence it has seen since President Mohamed Morsi came to power last year. At least six people were killed, including five Coptic Christians. More than 80 others were wounded.

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Economy
5:11 am
Fri April 5, 2013

Jobless Date In March: Like A Lamb Or Lion?

Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 12:31 pm

The Labor Department on Friday reported the nation's unemployment rate inched down to 7.6 percent in March, the lowest rate in four years, mainly due to more people stopping their search for work. In February, the job rate was 7.7 percent.

Middle East
4:31 am
Fri April 5, 2013

Talks Over Iran's Nuclear Program Resume In Kazakhstan

Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 7:30 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

We have been hearing a lot about North Korea and nuclear weapons lately. Well, nuclear negotiators have just wrapped up a first day of talks on Iran's nuclear program. Tehran does not have nuclear weapons and insists it doesn't want them, but six world powers say the country must do more to assure the world that its program is entirely peaceful. We spoke earlier with NPR's Peter Kenyon, who is in Almaty, Kazakhstan for the talks. Peter, good morning.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Good morning, David.

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Sports
4:42 am
Mon April 1, 2013

NCAA Men's Men's Basketball Tourney Down To 4

Originally published on Mon April 1, 2013 6:27 am

Top overall seed Louisville will face Wichita State at the Georgia Dome next Saturday, while Michigan takes on Syracuse in the other national semifinal. The winners advance to the April 8 championship.

Afghanistan
8:08 am
Mon March 25, 2013

Kerry Stops In Afghanistan On Diplomatic Mission

Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 8:34 am

Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Monday. He's trying to smooth over the latest disputes with President Hamid Karzai.

Sports
4:47 am
Mon March 25, 2013

Weekend Winners Move On To NCAA's Sweet 16

Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 8:34 am

The weekend's NCAA men's college basketball tournament saw some close games. Top seeds Gonzaga and Georgetown lost. Florida Gulf Coast University became the first 15th seed to win two games in tournament history.

Puerto Rico: A Disenchanted Island
3:27 am
Thu February 7, 2013

'Don't Give Up On Us': Puerto Ricans Wrestle With High Crime

Originally published on Thu February 7, 2013 8:31 pm

Puerto Rico's population is declining. Faced with a deteriorating economy, increased poverty and a swelling crime rate, many Puerto Ricans are fleeing the island for the U.S. mainland. In a four-part series, Morning Edition explores this phenomenon, and how Puerto Rico's troubles are affecting its people and other Americans in unexpected ways.

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Puerto Rico: A Disenchanted Island
2:58 am
Wed February 6, 2013

Puerto Rico's Battered Economy: The Greece Of The Caribbean?

Originally published on Wed February 6, 2013 10:51 am

Puerto Rico's population is declining. Faced with a deteriorating economy, increased poverty and a swelling crime rate, many citizens are fleeing the island for the U.S. mainland. In a four-part series, Morning Edition explores this phenomenon, and how Puerto Rico's troubles are affecting its people and other Americans in unexpected ways.

Edward Bonet's mom no longer tries to convince him to join her in Florida. Unlike his family, the 23-year-old from Puerto Rico refuses to leave the island and its shattered economy.

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Economy
4:41 am
Fri January 4, 2013

December's Jobless Rate Forecast To Remain Steady

Originally published on Fri January 4, 2013 1:19 pm

U.S. employers continued to add jobs at a modest but steady pace last month. Despite worries about the fiscal cliff, the unemployment rate stood at 7.8 percent. There were no big surprises in Friday's report from the Labor Department.

Around the Nation
6:51 am
Wed January 2, 2013

Oil Drilling Rig Runs Aground In Alaska

Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 11:16 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Let's turn now to a developing story in Alaska. A crew is trying to get aboard a massive oil drilling rig that ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska. Workers have already been evacuated and there is no risk of an oil spill here, but the rig is carrying thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. The rig is a key component of Shell Oil's controversial efforts to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean, and joining us now with the latest on the situation in Alaska is NPR science correspondent Richard Harris.

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Race
4:59 am
Tue January 1, 2013

Significances Of Kwanzaa Changes Over The Years

Originally published on Tue January 1, 2013 9:44 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Rounding out the holiday season, Kwanza comes to an end today. It's the only official African-American holiday, and it began at the height of the 1960s black nationalist movement, just one year after Malcolm X was assassinated and the Watts riots ripped through Los Angeles. But the generation that helped create Kwanzaa is growing older, and the holiday doesn't seem to hold the same significance for many younger African-Americans.

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Around the Nation
5:43 am
Mon December 31, 2012

Secretary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

Originally published on Mon December 31, 2012 6:51 am

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a New York hospital for treatment of a blood clot. Clinton suffered a concussion after a fall earlier this month.

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