Mara Liasson (; born June 13, 1955) is an American journalist and political pundit. She is the national political correspondent for
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 ...
[Biography]
at National Public Radio's website
and also a contributor at
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
.
[Biography]
at Fox News' website
Early life
Liasson was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to a Jewish family. She grew up in
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...
and graduated from
Scarsdale High School
Scarsdale High School (SHS) is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, United States, a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York. It is a part of the Scarsdale Union Free School District.
The school was founded in 1917. ...
in 1973. Additionally, when she was studying at Scarsdale High School, she was one of a few students to form the Scarsdale Alternative School, an experimental democratic community that still exists today. She is a graduate of
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
(class of 1977) with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...
.
Career
Liasson was a freelance radio and television reporter in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...
and worked at Berkeley's
KPFA
KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sign ...
before joining NPR in 1985. She was awarded a Knight-Bagehot
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
ship in Economics and Business Journalism
[Profile]
at Jewish Ann Arbor to study at
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
for a year; she took leave to do that in 1988–89, then became NPR's congressional correspondent. She was NPR's
White House correspondent from 1992 to 2001, receiving the
White House Correspondents' Association
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
's
Merriman Smith Award for daily news coverage for 1994, 1995 and 1997.
She is now NPR's national political correspondent.
[
She joined Fox News in 1997. She is a regular contributor to '']Special Report with Bret Baier
'' Special Report with Bret Baier'' (formerly ''Special Report with Brit Hume'') is an American television news and political commentary program, hosted by Bret Baier since 2009, that airs on Fox News Channel. It is broadcast live each Monday thr ...
'' and a panelist on '' FOX News Sunday''.[
She has also worked as a panelist for the ]WETA-TV
WETA-TV (channel 26) is the primary PBS member television station in Washington, D.C. Owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, it is a sister station to NPR member WETA (90.9 FM). The two outlets share studios ...
weekend news program '' Washington Week'', which is aired on many PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member stations.
Personal life
She is married to Jonathan Cuneo, a partner in the law firm of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
They have three children and at least one grandchild. Liasson is a member of the Sixth & I
The Sixth & I Historic Synagogue is a non-denominational, non-membership, non-traditional Jewish synagogue located at the corner of Sixth Street and I Street, NW in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest synagogue ...
historic synagogue in Washington, D.C.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liasson, Mara
1955 births
Jewish American writers
Brown University alumni
Living people
NPR personalities
American television reporters and correspondents
American television news anchors
People from Scarsdale, New York
American women television journalists
Fox News people
Scarsdale High School alumni
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women