David Greene

David Greene

Host of Left, Right & Center; co-founder, Fearless Media; host, ‘Ukraine Stories’; former co-host, NPR's 'Morning Edition'

David Greene, an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author, hosted NPR’s Morning Edition for nearly a decade. He also hosted NPR’s popular morning news podcast, Up First, guiding listeners through turbulent elections, a world-altering pandemic and fights for social change in our country. David stepped away from Morning Edition in 2021 and co-founded a new company, Fearless Media, which is collaborating with KCRW in producing Left, Right & Center. David spent much of 2022 in Ukraine, working on several audio projects, including Ukraine Stories, a daily podcast from Fearless that Forbes Magazine called a “tour de force of narrative journalism.” David brought his own experience to the conflict in Ukraine: Before Morning Edition, he was NPR’s Moscow Bureau Chief, covering the region from Ukraine and the Baltics east to Siberia. He also took two trips across the Trans-Siberian Railway and published a best-selling book about the journeys called Midnight in Siberia, giving readers a nuanced look at Russian life under Vladimir Putin.

During the Arab Spring, David 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 his coverage. David's voice became familiar to NPR listeners from his years covering former President George W. Bush. He spent hours in NPR's booth in the basement of the West Wing and followed the president and First Lady to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Rwanda, Uruguay – and, of course, Crawford, Texas. David was also an integral part of NPR's coverage of the historic 2008 election, reporting on 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 his report on a speech by then-candidate Barack Obama addressing the nation's racial divide and awarded it the Association's 2008 Merriman Smith Award for deadline coverage of the presidency.

While David has interviewed countless celebrities — from Kendrick Lamar, Jimmy Buffett and Dolly Parton to Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon and Will Smith — he says he is even more passionate about interviewing people we have never heard of, but whose lives deserve our respect and attention. David lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Rose Previte, a Michelin-starred restaurateur and David’s fellow adventurer and travel companion.

David Greene on KCRW

Is the media’s coverage adding to the difficulties of Donald Trump’s criminal case? Where does protest cross the line into hate speech?

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