About Farai Chideya
Farai Chideya hosted NPR’s award-winning national daily radio show News and Notes from 2006-2009. The audience loyalty built by News and Notes continues in the form of engaged listeners who continue to challenge public media to be as diverse as the nation itself. News and Notes took its mandate of illuminating the diversity of the African-American experience to a new level, tackling topics including politics, visual art, hip hop, and social justice. Highlights of the show include a weekly “Africa Update” on news from the continent; two Bloggers Roundtables each week; ongoing coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign, including interviews with the candidates; and conversations with artists, actors and musicians including Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington, Kara Walker and Youssou N’Dour.
In addition to hosting News and Notes, Farai’s recent work includes television political commentary for networks and shows including CNN, MSNBC, BET, and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Her goal is to tell the stories of how national politics affect real people, and she’s known for bringing a bit of pop culture into the world of politics.
Chideya is an experienced field reporter who covered the devastation in the Gulf following Katrina. She knows what it means to get the story as it happens from the people who are living it… not just secondhand. She often stays in touch with people she has profiled, and comes back to update readers, viewers, or listeners on how their lives are unfolding… sometimes years later. To Farai, it’s just as important to see what happens to people in the long run as it is to cover breaking news.
Chideya has written for magazines including Time, O, Vibe, and Glamour.