Rob Schmitz
Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
Prior to covering Europe, Schmitz provided award-winning coverage of China for a decade, reporting on the country's economic rise and increasing global influence. His reporting on China's impact beyond its borders took him to countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Inside China, he's interviewed elderly revolutionaries, young rappers, and live-streaming celebrity farmers who make up the diverse tapestry of one of the most fascinating countries on the planet. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road (Crown/Random House 2016), a profile of individuals who live, work, and dream along a single street that runs through the heart of China's largest city. The book won several awards and has been translated into half a dozen languages. In 2018, China's government banned the Chinese version of the book after its fifth printing. The following year it was selected as a finalist for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award, Poland's most prestigious literary prize.
Schmitz has won numerous awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow Awards and an Education Writers Association Award. His work was also a finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan — from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami — was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University's Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey's account of Apple's supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show's "Retraction" episode. In 2011, New York's Rubin Museum of Art screened a documentary Schmitz shot in Tibetan regions of China about one of the last living Tibetans who had memorized "Gesar of Ling," an epic poem that tells of Tibet's ancient past.
From 2010 to 2016, Schmitz was the China correspondent for American Public Media's Marketplace. He's also worked as a reporter for NPR Member stations KQED, KPCC and MPR. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China — first as a teacher for the Peace Corps in the 1990s, and later as a freelance print and video journalist. He also lived in Spain for two years. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He has a bachelor's degree in Spanish literature from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
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Germany played a key role in the prisoner swap that brought "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich home from a Russian jail.
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The Wall Street Journal reporter and the former U.S. Marine have been released by Russia in exchange for Russian prisoners held in the U.S. and Europe, in what the U.S. calls a historic prisoner swap.
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Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was detained in Russia in March 2023 on espionage charges that the newspaper and U.S. government say are false. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, has been detained in Russia since 2018.
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NPR's Rob Schmitz talks with Paul Tenorio, soccer writer with The Athletic, about the Copa America soccer tournament, in which the best teams from North and South America will compete in U.S. cities.
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NPR's Rob Schmitz talks with San Francisco Giants announcer Dave Flemming about the career and life of Willie Mays, who was considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
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NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with sports journalist Musa Okwonga about the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship."
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There’s finally a consensus that ongoing digital attacks on the U.S. healthcare system constitute a crisis. The U.S. government is trying to work with partners to staunch the bleeding.
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NPR's Rob Schmitz talks to Christopher White of the National Catholic Reporter about why the pope is interested in AI.
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Supreme Court rejects challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone. Elon Musk wins back his $44.9 billion Tesla pay package in a shareholder vote. White House moves to secure rural health care systems.
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Colin Meloy writes novels in the forms of songs. His band The Decemberists returns with their ninth studio album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again.