Ludden to cover economic inequality for NPR

Jennifer Ludden, the energy and environment editor at NPR, is shifting beats and will now cover economic inequality.

Ludden has been editing energy and environment stories that track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.

Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She’s also covered immigration and national security.

Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR’s coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.

Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine.

She’s a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.