Joshua Johnson (born March 22, 1980) is an American journalist. He is the former host of '' 1A'', which is produced by
WAMU
WAMU (88.5 FM) is a public news/ talk station that services the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It is owned by American University, and its studios are located near the campus in northwest Washington. WAMU has been the primary Nation ...
and nationally distributed by
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
. In 2019, he joined
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
and hosted ''The Week with Joshua Johnson'' until 2022; when he started hosting ''Now Tonight with Joshua Johnson'' on NBC News Now.
Early life
Johnson was born and raised in
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
, the only son of a public school teacher and Vietnam veteran. He became interested in journalism as a child, inspired by African American journalists such as
Ed Bradley
Edward Rudolph Bradley Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American broadcast journalist and news anchor. He was best known for his reporting on ''60 Minutes'' and CBS News.
Bradley began his journalism career as a radio news repo ...
,
Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, and
Dwight Lauderdale
Dwight Lauderdale (born in Columbus, Ohio) is a former TV news anchor. He was the first African American news anchor in South Florida and became one of the state's most watched and longest running anchors.
Career
Johnson graduated from the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
and began his career in public radio working for a collaborative project between WLRN and the '' Miami Herald,'' from 2004 to 2010.
In 2010, Johnson relocated to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
to work for KQED, an NPR affiliate, where he served as morning newscaster until early 2016. In 2016, he hosted the radio series ''Truth Be Told,'' produced by KQED and distributed by Public Radio International. ''Truth Be Told'' dealt with issues of race in America, and four episodes were broadcast nationally. He was also a substitute host of KQED's ''
Forum
Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to:
Common uses
* Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States
*Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city
**Roman Forum, most famous example
*Internet ...
'' and taught courses in
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
ing at the
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism is a graduate professional school on the campus of University of California, Berkeley. It is among the top graduate journalism schools in the United States, and is designed to produce journalists wi ...
. In September 2016, he guest hosted ''
The Diane Rehm Show
''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...
'' for two days, and in November, Rehm announced Johnson would be taking over her time slot.
Johnson served as the host of '' 1A'', which was distributed by NPR, from 2017 through 2019. In late 2019, he announced that he would be leaving ''1A'' on December 20 to become an anchor for
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
in 2020.
Personal life
Johnson declines to discuss his own personal opinions, and says he has been called both conservative and liberal.
Johnson is a member of the
National Association of Black Journalists
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...
, and The
National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to unbiased coverage of LGBTQ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, e ...