ARI SHAPIRO

Intern to NPR Pro: An Interview with Ari Shapiro




LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW


"Secrecy is the enemy of democracy. If politicians are acting honorably, they can do it with the doors open and the lights on."
-- Bob Edwards

If you're a college student like me, you've probably spent a LOT of money on coffee. And if you've had Starbucks this summer, you've probably seen Bob Edwards' quote on your caramel macchiato. It's Starbuck's way of documenting America's media icons. Maybe Ari Shapiro will be quoted one day. Five years ago, the then twenty-two-year-old was an intern for Nina Totenberg. Now, he's NPR's justice reporter. In an exclusive interview, I found out his "dirty little secret," his opinion about blogging, and how Bob Edwards taught him to strip a script down to its skeletal structure. Here are just a few of the Q and A's…


When did you intern and what was it like?
I was an intern in the spring of 2001. I was Nina Totenberg's intern and that spring there was no full-fledged intern program. There were only three of us. There were advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage was that I didn't get to do Intern Edition, which is clearly one of the highlights of the NPR experience. The advantage was that I had a lot of freedom around the building, and I got to work with Nina. It was amazing. The Clinton administration was going out, and the Bush administration was coming in, and so there were all of these events and parties and celebrations and hearings for the outgoing people and the incoming people, so just to be plunged into that Washington scene and get to go to all of these events and be immersed in all of it was really exciting.

You grew up in Portland. Do you miss it, or do you call D.C. your home?
Rita Garcia
When people ask what my hometown is, I say Portland, but I haven't lived there for ten years. I love living in Washington, and I don't think I can do what I do anywhere else. I'm really happy living here. That said, whenever I go back to Portland there's a sense of recognition and familiarity and comfort with the city I grew up in and the culture I was immersed in everyday during my childhood. And it's true what they say - the West Coast and East Coast are very different. To be in a place where people leave work at 5 p.m. and go hiking, where you meet people and the question "Where do you work?" doesn't even come up in conversation, is refreshing. It's nice to go back to Portland and get reacquainted with that again.

What advice would you give to interns about becoming the next Ari Shapiro?
I would advise interns to capitalize on their strengths, to do the things they feel passionately about, to seek out opportunities rather than waiting for people to offer you opportunities. Ask permission but don't wait for somebody to come ask you if you'd like to do something. Go ask them if you can do something. Keep challenging yourself and keep thinking about what the next step that you can take will be. There's a difference between that and being overzealous in your aspirations. It's important to master something before moving on to the next. But it's also important not to wait to be offered the opportunity to do the next thing.

If you weren't a journalist, what would you be doing?

Well, by the time Nina offered me the internship, I had already accepted a job teaching English in Greece. So, who knows what that would have turned into, but that's probably where I would have gone right out of college. And from there? Oh I don't know, maybe I would have joined the Peace Corps or something. That's such a cliché answer.

To find out all the details, check out the audio of the interview and learn more about Ari Shapiro - exactly how he got to where he is today, and why he's one of the few people at NPR sporting a suit.

-Ko Im, Morning Edition Intern