Lourdes "Lulu" Garcia-Navarro is an American journalist and 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. Previously a foreign correspondent, she served as NPR's Jerusalem bureau chief.[not verified in body] Her coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and her vivid dispatches of the Arab Spring uprisings brought Garcia-Navarro wide acclaim and five awards in 2012, including the Edward R. Murrow and Peabody Awards for her coverage of the Libyan revolt.[1][2] She then moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, covering South America.[not verified in body] Her series on the Amazon rainforest was a Peabody finalist and won an Edward R. Murrow award for best news series.[not verified in body]

Early life and education

Garcia-Navarro was born in London, England.[citation needed] She has stated that her parents "are Cuban and Panamanian," and that she grew up in Miami.[3] Garcia-Navarro "holds a Bachelor of Science degree in international relations from Georgetown University and a Master of Arts degree in journalism from City University in London".[4]

Career

She started her career working 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.[citation needed]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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

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.[citation needed]

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,[7] the Outstanding Correspondent Gracie Award,[8] and the Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award.[9]

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.[10] 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".[11] The company further announced on May 19, 2022, that the podcast — First Person — would debut on June 9, 2022.[12]

Personal life

Garcia-Navarro is married to Times of London journalist James Hider.[13] They have a daughter. In 2017, Garcia-Navarro became a US citizen.[14]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b "Press Room". www.cpb.org. Jun 30, 2015. Retrieved Feb 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "The Peabody Awards". www.peabodyawards.com. Retrieved Feb 16, 2019.
  3. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (2015-08-27). "Hispanic Or Latino? A Guide For The U.S. Presidential Campaign". NPR.org. Retrieved Dec 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.
  4. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu & KUNC Staff (2023). "Lulu Garcia-Navarro". KUNC.org. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  5. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lourdes & NPR Staff (28 March 2011). "People at NPR: Lourdes Garcia-Navarro". NPR. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  6. ^ Memmott, Mark (March 22, 2006). "Reporters in Iraq under fire there, and from critics". USA Today.
  7. ^ a b "Journalist wins XCity alumni award for Arab spring coverage | Media news". 22 March 2012.
  8. ^ a b "The Gracies : 2012 Gracie Awards Winners". Oct 4, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved Feb 16, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "The Lowell Thomas Award 2011". OPC. Retrieved Feb 16, 2019.
  10. ^ "Lulu Garcia-Navarro will leave NPR| Current". 9 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Lulu Garcia-Navarro Joins Times Opinion as Podcast Host". The New York Times Company. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  12. ^ "Introducing "First Person," a New Podcast From New York Times Opinion". The New York Times Company. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  13. ^ Jensen, Elizabeth. "How NPR And The Times of London Ended Up With Identical Quotes". NPR. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  14. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (July 4, 2018). "This is my first #JulyFourth..." Twitter.com. Retrieved 4 May 2019. This is my first #JulyFourth as a US citizen. Happy Independence Day to all my fellow immigrants!

External links