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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The Palestinian keffiyeh has been at the center of violent attacks in the U.S. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with dress historian Wafa Ghnaim about the keffiyeh's legacy and significance for Palestinians.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Jeremi Suri, professor of public affairs and history at University of Texas at Austin about Henry Kissinger's complicated legacy.
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Dozens of hostages detained by Hamas have been freed. But what happens next? NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Liz Cathcart, executive director of the non-profit Hostage U.S., about life after captivity.
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Ailsa Chang talks to Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz about their new documentary Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story that chronicles the life and controversy of the Hollywood mogul.
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In New York, the Adult Survivors Act opened a one year window for adult survivors of sexual assault to file civil suits past the statute of limitations. But that window closes next week.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with democratic Senator Ben Cardin, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, about the absence of military aid to Ukraine in Congress's bill averting a government shutdown.
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Why viewers can't get enough of the Golden Bachelor! Is the show re-shaping the future of reality television? NPR talks with Juliet Litman of "The Ringer" who hosts the podcast "Bachelor Party."
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A fatal incident on the ice during a professional hockey game in the UK led to an arrest this week, and raises questions about the line between a terrible accident and a criminal act.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with reporter Ben Westhoff, author of Fentanyl, Inc., about President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's agreement to curb fentanyl precursor chemical production in China.
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Lawmakers in Wisconsin have passed a resolution declaring the state's official cocktail: the brandy old fashioned.