Former OPB Host Headed Back to War Zone

Emily Harris, the former host of Oregon Public Broadcasting's morning talk show "Think Out Loud," has been hired by National Public Radio as its Jerusalem correspondent.

Harris, who was forced out at OPB in June of 2011, confirmed her new job to WW this morning.

She says she'll move from Portland to Jerusalem by the beginning of April 2013. "I'm super excited," Harris says. "It's a great opportunity, and a really important story."

It's a prime assignment: Harris will be NPR's reporter on Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

Missile strikes by Israel on Gaza this week have raised the threat of a new war in the Middle East. Harris has prior experience covering conflict in the Middle East: a series of emails she wrote to WW Editor Mark Zusman about her time covering the Iraq War became a 2005 cover story. 

Since leaving OPB, Harris has worked at the Journalism Accelerator, a Portland-based online forum for publishers to share new and sustainable business models for news organizations.