Host
One of the hosts of National Public Radio's flagship afternoon news program, All Things Considered, gave a lecture at UC Riverside last night. Ari Shapiro told the audience that every day, his journalism is guided by NPR’s 56-year-old original mission: to encourage a sense of active, constructive participation rather than apathetic helplessness. After the lecture, KVCR’s Madison Aument spoke with Shapiro as they shared a golf cart to the parking lot.
Ari Shapiro
An interview in motion.
Madison Aument
We're on the golf cart. Yeah, I want to start.
Ari Shapiro: We're rolling in two senses of the word.
Madison Aument: Yes… Okay. You're the host of one of the flagship news shows at the moment… this moment… when Republicans are threatening to defund NPR. So, how are you doing at this moment?
Ari Shapiro: The best thing I can do is keep doing my job to the best of my ability. I'm very lucky that NPR has very talented people who are working on the policy questions, and I know my lane. And my lane is to host All Things Considered and help tell people what's going on in the world. So that's what I stay focused on.
Madison Aument: And you've been in journalism for many years, and you've been a host since the first Trump administration. So, I'm curious: what's different now from the first Trump administration?
Ari Shapiro: I think he came in this time with a much clearer sense of what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. I also think the presence of Elon Musk is completely transformative, and very different from the first administration.
Madison Aument: How has that affected your job as a journalist?
Ari Shapiro: It hasn’t, in the sense that when there's a lot of news, All Things Considered remains two hours a day. And so, we are always trying to figure out how best to reflect the full tapestry of life in a two-hour program. That includes politics and policy and lots of other things too. It includes arts and science and business and joy and sports. And so, every day, we're just trying to assemble that tapestry in the best way we can.
Madison Aument: You're also a performer. How do you balance your personal views— say, in your cabaret show or performing with your band— with your role as a journalist?
Ari Shapiro: The thing that is delightful about being able to perform, whether with Pink Martini or with Alan Cumming or in my solo cabaret, is that I can explore a different side of how to connect with an audience. And so, my performance does not talk about the news at all. There are no current events. But it is something that, hopefully, people can relate to in a different kind of way—through music, through storytelling, in the case of Pink Martini, through lots of different languages. And so, it's all about connection, and it's all about narrative, but it’s kind of using different palettes to create a painting.
Madison Aument: My last question—you sort of framed your lecture around NPR’s original mission statement about active, constructive participation over apathetic helplessness. Given the concerns around journalism, I’m just wondering: going forward, how do we continue to fulfill that mission?
Ari Shapiro: I think we're doing it every day by being in the community and talking to people who are having an impact, and sharing those stories with listeners who care. It’s lovely, because it is so fundamental and basic and simple, and doesn't have to be that complicated.
Madison Aument: Thank you so much.
Ari Shapiro: Thank you for the interview. This was so fun.
Madison Aument: This was so fun.