Ailsa Chang
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Chang is a former Planet Money correspondent, where she got to geek out on the law while covering the underground asylum industry in the largest Chinatown in America, privacy rights in the cell phone age, the government's doomed fight to stop racist trademarks, and the money laundering case federal agents built against one of President Trump's top campaign advisers.
Previously, she was a congressional correspondent with NPR's Washington Desk. She covered battles over healthcare, immigration, gun control, executive branch appointments, and the federal budget.
Chang started out as a radio reporter in 2009, and has since earned a string of national awards for her work. In 2012, she was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her investigation into the New York City Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" policy and allegations of unlawful marijuana arrests by officers. The series also earned honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She was also the recipient of the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award, a National Headliner Award, and an honor from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigation on how Detroit's broken public defender system leaves lawyers with insufficient resources to effectively represent their clients.
In 2011, the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Chang as the winner of the Art Athens Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting for radio. In 2015, she won a National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for her coverage of Capitol Hill.
Prior to coming to NPR, Chang was an investigative reporter at NPR Member station WNYC from 2009 to 2012 in New York City, focusing on criminal justice and legal affairs. She was a Kroc fellow at NPR from 2008 to 2009, as well as a reporter and producer for NPR Member station KQED in San Francisco.
The former lawyer served as a law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University where she received her bachelor's degree.
She earned her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she won the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the best piece written by a student in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.
Chang was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where she received a master's degree in media law. She also has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she never got to have a dog. But now she's the proud mama of Mickey Chang, a shih tzu who enjoys slapping high-fives and mingling with senators.
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Western Kentucky is dealing with the aftermath of a deadly tornado now, but 10 years ago Joplin, Mo., was in the same place. Joplin Mayor Ryan Stanley offers his advice for those in Kentucky. -
Austria has become the first European country to instate a vaccine mandate. Monday, it was the first to initiate a nation-wide lockdown during this surge, despite protests against the restrictions.
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The newly signed infrastructure bill provides funding for rural high-speed Internet expansion, as millions in the U.S. lack the connectivity that's become increasingly essential during the pandemic. -
NPR's Ailsa Chang recaps Thursday night's Latin Grammys with Julyssa Lopez of Rolling Stone Magazine.
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Hair loss is a common side effect of COVID-19 and the trauma of the pandemic itself. NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Atlantic writer Amanda Mull about her article, "The Year America's Hair Fell Out."
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Australian songwriter Courtney Barnett about her new album Things Take Time, Take Time, in some ways a response to the 'anxiety and overwhelm' of the pandemic.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson about a case against three drug distributors for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic, as case's trial starts Monday.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Ted Leopold, co-lead counsel for the people of Flint, Mich., after a judge approved a settlement for victims of the city's water crisis.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Joey Guerra, a music critic for The Houston Chronicle, about how his experience attending Astroworld Festival colors his lifetime of covering concerts.
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After more than a year of working and living through a pandemic, thousands of workers across the U.S. are striking for better wages, working conditions and benefits.
