Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Lulu Garcia-Navarro
Garcia-Navarro at the Peabody Awards in 2012
Born1970 or 1971 (age 53–54)
London, England
EducationGeorgetown University (BS)
City University of London (MA)
OccupationJournalist
Years active1999–present
SpouseJames Hider

Lourdes "Lulu" Garcia-Navarro is an American journalist who is an Opinion Audio podcast host for The New York Times. She was the host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday from 2017 to 2021, when she left NPR after 17 years at the network.

Garcia-Navarro was previously a foreign correspondent and served as NPR's bureau chief in Mexico City, Baghdad, and Jerusalem, and opened the bureau in Rio de Janeiro. Her coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and dispatches of the Arab Spring uprisings brought Garcia-Navarro multiple awards in 2012, including the Edward R. Murrow and Peabody Awards for her coverage of the Libyan revolt.[1][2] Her series on the Amazon rainforest was a Peabody finalist and won an Edward R. Murrow award for best news series.[3]

Early life and education

Garcia-Navarro was born in London, England,[4] one of six children born to refugees from the 1959 Cuban Revolution.[5] She states that her parents are of Cuban and Panamanian descent and her father died when she was five.[6] She was raised in Miami.[7][8] She earned a bachelor of science in international relations from Georgetown University and a master's degree in journalism from City University in London.[3][9]

Career

She started her career as a freelance journalist for the BBC World Service and Voice of America, traveling to Cuba, Syria, Panama, and several European countries on assignment for the two organizations.[3]

She was hired by Associated Press Television News as a producer in 1999 and later worked for the news agency's radio division. AP dispatched Garcia-Navarro to Kosovo in 1999; Colombia in 2000; Afghanistan in 2001; Israel in 2002; and Iraq from 2002 to 2004.[10]

Garcia-Navarro traveled to Iraq on assignment before the 2003 war and was among the few journalists that covered the invasion as a unilateral reporter.[11]

Garcia-Navarro joined National Public Radio in November 2004 as Mexico City bureau chief. She moved to Baghdad in January 2008 and oversaw NPR's Iraq coverage for more than a year.[3] In April 2009, she moved to Jerusalem to become bureau chief, a position that she held through to the end of 2012.[12] She opened NPR's Brazil bureau in April 2013.[13]

Garcia-Navarro was awarded the 2006 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for her work in Mexico and belonged to teams that received the 2005 Peabody Award and the 2007 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award recognizing NPR's Iraq coverage.[3]

In February 2011, Garcia-Navarro was one of the first reporters to report from eastern Libya as the uprising was gaining strength and reported for months from rebel-held Benghazi, Tripoli, and the western mountains as rebel forces fought pitched battles against Col. Muammar Gaddafi's regime.[citation needed] Garcia-Navarro's front-line reports made her among the most praised journalists covering the Arab Spring.[according to whom?]

Besides the Murrow and Peabody awards, she received the 2012 City University in London XCity Award,[14] the Outstanding Correspondent Gracie Award,[15] and the Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award.[16]

From her base in Brazil, Garcia-Navarro covered political protests, the Zika virus and the Olympics.[citation needed] She became the new regular host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday on January 8, 2017, and later complemented that role by co-hosting the Saturday edition of the network's Up First podcast with Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon.[citation needed]

On September 9, 2021, she announced she would leave NPR as of October 17, 2021.[17] The New York Times Company announced on September 30, 2021, that Garcia-Navarro would join its Opinion Audio team to anchor a new podcast to "explore the personal side of opinion".[18] The podcast, First Person, debuted on June 9, 2022.[19]

In April 2024, Garcia-Navarro became the co-host, with David Marchese, of the New York Times podcast The Interview, featuring a structure in which guests are interviewed twice over the course of a week.[20]

Personal life

Garcia-Navarro is married to journalist James Hider, an editor at NPR.[21] They have a daughter, Cassenia.[22] In 2017, Garcia-Navarro became a U.S. citizen.[23]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b "Press Room". www.cpb.org. June 30, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "The Peabody Awards". www.peabodyawards.com. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Honors NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro with the Edward R. Murrow Award". Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
  4. ^ Hill, Sommer (October 15, 2021). "Faces of NPR: Lulu Garcia-Navarro". NPR. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  5. ^ Elsayed, Dina. "Radio Around the World #3 with Lulu Garcia-Navarro". Zeitgeister.
  6. ^ Chapin, Angelina (September 19, 2022). "Lulu Garcia-Navarro Wants to Hear Your Unpopular Opinion". The Cut (New York).
  7. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (August 27, 2015). "Hispanic Or Latino? A Guide For The U.S. Presidential Campaign". NPR.org. Retrieved December 21, 2019. My parents are Cuban and Panamanian. I grew up in Miami. ... I'm neither Latina nor Hispanic because I don't live in the U.S. / I'm a Cuban-Panamanian-Brit who speaks Spanish and lives in a Portuguese-speaking part of Latin America.
  8. ^ Chapin, Angelina (September 19, 2022). "Lulu Garcia-Navarro Wants to Hear Your Unpopular Opinion". The Cut.
  9. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu & KUNC Staff (2023). "Lulu Garcia-Navarro". KUNC.org. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  10. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lourdes & NPR Staff (March 28, 2011). "People at NPR: Lourdes Garcia-Navarro". NPR. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  11. ^ Memmott, Mark (March 22, 2006). "Reporters in Iraq under fire there, and from critics". USA Today.
  12. ^ "NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro Opens Her Reporter's Notebook". Here and Now. March 28, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2023. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, Jerusalem bureau chief for NPR
  13. ^ Villafañe, Veronica (September 19, 2016). "García-Navarro named host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday". MediaMoves. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Journalist wins XCity alumni award for Arab spring coverage | Media news". March 22, 2012.
  15. ^ a b "The Gracies : 2012 Gracie Awards Winners". October 4, 2012. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  16. ^ a b "The Lowell Thomas Award 2011". OPC. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  17. ^ "Lulu Garcia-Navarro will leave NPR| Current". September 9, 2021.
  18. ^ "Lulu Garcia-Navarro Joins Times Opinion as Podcast Host". The New York Times Company. September 30, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  19. ^ "Introducing "First Person," a New Podcast From New York Times Opinion". The New York Times Company. May 19, 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  20. ^ Weprin, Alex (April 23, 2024). "Inside The New York Times' Next Big Bet: 'The Interview' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  21. ^ Schanche, Didrik (April 15, 2024). "James Hider is NPR's new Middle East editor". NPR. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  22. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lourdes (January 17, 2013). "A War Correspondent Takes On Her Toughest Assignment". NPR. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  23. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (July 4, 2018). "This is my first #JulyFourth..." Twitter.com. Retrieved May 4, 2019. This is my first #JulyFourth as a US citizen. Happy Independence Day to all my fellow immigrants!
  24. ^ "The War in Iraq". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  25. ^ "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Honors NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro with the Edward R. Murrow Award". www.cpb.org. December 14, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  26. ^ "Speakers & Honorary Degrees | Smith College". www.smith.edu. Retrieved May 22, 2024.