Mary Louise Kelly To CoHost NPR's 'All Things Considered'

Mary Louise Kelly

NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly will become a co-host of All Things Considered, the organization announced Monday, about six weeks after she confronted NPR’s president for his handling of sexual harassment allegations in a nationally broadcast interview.

Kelly, previously a national security reporter, will succeed Robert Siegel, who co-hosted NPR’s flagship afternoon program for 30 years.

Her Nov. 1 back-and-forth with NPR CEO and President Jarl Mohn came just hours after the organization’s top editor, Michael Oreskes, resigned in the wake of sexual harassment accusations by several women. While The Washington Post broke that initial story, NPR’s subsequent reporting on its leadership’s lethargic response has been pointed to as an example for other outlets seeking to hold themselves accountable.

Without veering from classical NPR understatement, Kelly’s interview with Mohn captured the sense of disappointment, if not betrayal, of many journalists whose bosses have shied away from responsibility for toxic workplace culture.

Kelly will co-host alongside Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro. After two years as a co-host of both All Things Considered and the Embedded podcast, Kelly McEvers will step down at the end of January, but will continue her work as host and executive producer of Embedded, which will increase its output in 2018.

"Mary Louise Kelly is an immensely talented reporter and her deep command of the issues make her a formidable interviewer. After a lengthy search, we found precisely what we were looking for close to home. We are thrilled to have her on air every afternoon," said Chris Turpin, acting senior vice president of news. "Mary Louise combines rigorous thinking with the ability to put herself in the listeners' shoes. She will help us usher in a new era of the program."

"Kelly McEvers brings the same excellence and commitment to each new project she undertakes. She has been a wonderful All Things Considered host, but her passion is being out of the studio and in the world reporting," said Anya Grundmann, vice president of programming and audience development. "Embedded has been so successful, we want Kelly to devote herself full-time to this kind of in-depth storytelling and dig deeper into even more topics."