NPR today announced changes to its roster of co-hosts for All Things Considered. Audie Cornish, who had been guest-hosting during Michele Norris’s leave of absence, becomes permanent co-host of the NPR newsmag.
Norris will return to work next month in what NPR describes as an “expanded role” — host and special correspondent. She will produce in-depth profiles, interviews and series as well as guest-host on NPR News programs. Norris stepped out of her prominent on-air role in October 2011 to avoid any potential ethical conflict in covering the presidential race; her husband Broderick Johnson had taken a job as a senior adviser to President Obama’s re-election campaign.
Cornish has been a host and reporter for NPR since 2006. She began hosting Weekend Edition Sunday in September 2011 and started filling in for Norris on ATC in January 2012.
Rachel Martin, who has been filling in for Cornish as host of Weekend Edition Sunday, will host the weekend newsmag on a permanent basis. She previously reported on military and intelligence issues for NPR and has covered religion and reported from Berlin as well. She also helped launch The Bryant Park Project.
Norris joined ATC as a cohost in 2002. Among the special projects she will produce in her new role is an expansion of “The Race Card Project,” which she launched during her absence from ATC. Norris has been collecting submissions in which people express their thoughts about racial issues in just six words. She has gathered more than 14,000 submissions, according to NPR, and will develop radio segments and web features for NPR based on the project. She will also continue the “Backseat Book Club,” regular ATC segment for young readers.