Marco Werman, co-host of GBH world, The public broadcaster's longest-running daily global news programme has been in journalism since the age of 16, when he started working as a copy clerk for the broadcaster. News & Observer After graduating from Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina, he joined the Peace Corps, serving in Togo and Burkina Faso. While in Africa, he began freelancing for the BBC World Service, where he produced Network Africa. He has worked around the world and joined GBH in 1995. worldCurrently, the program is broadcast on 377 public radio stations across the country, a record high for the program.
What are you reading or listening to right now?
I read a lot of current events and global news – from daily reports from multiple sources to long magazine articles – so lately I’ve been making time for more fiction. American Spy By Lauren Wilkinson (thrilling historical fiction) The postman always rings twice (Old school, James Caan wrote gripping dialogue that you had to read out loud), I'm about to start The scent of burning flowers The author is Blitz Bazawule (also a talented musician nicknamed Blitz the Ambassador). But the novel is always interrupted by a fascinating non-fiction book, such as knifeSalman Rushdie's article about his stabbing in 2022, or Hidden City How Miami was shaped by the Cold War.
Who is your role model or inspiration?
I worked for photographer Jill Friedman, who was an editor and who courageously told stories to strangers. My godfather, Ernest Pendrell, who made documentaries for ABC News every week when it was still a news channel, made me realize at age 7 that journalism was a career. There are so many writers, reporters, and editors working today whose courage, creativity, and expression inspire me that I can’t name them all.
Why did you become a public media journalist?
Several things intertwined: commercial media was not free to report and tell stories, and I was able to do that on the air in an immersive sonic way, having worked for the BBC and other media in West Africa. The freedom and independence that public radio gave me was in stark contrast to my entry-level salary. My first job at a public radio station in 1990 paid $14,000 a year, but I was doing something I loved, and I thought if I worked hard and practiced smart journalism, I would thrive.
Describe your job in one word?
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Describe the impact of the story you created.
I get a lot of feedback (emails, messages on social media) every day, often about stories that impact our listeners’ daily lives. Sometimes listeners hear things they like. Other things they hear have a negative impact on them; it’s not surprising that news coverage isn’t always warmly received. But I think my recent reporting assignment in the Middle East, which took me to Israel and the West Bank, gave our listeners a more nuanced understanding of the complexity and tensions of the current situation there.
listen world £89.70 per day at 3pm, or online.
