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Lisa Desjardins

About Lisa

Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS News Hour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work.

She specializes in breaking down complex stories and political disagreements into the key pieces that matter, often translating numbers and fiscal information into accessible stories for the audience.

Prior to joining News Hour, Desjardins spent nearly ten years with CNN as a senior correspondent and Capitol Hill reporter. Prior to CNN, she reported for the Associated Press, WBTW-TV, WIS-TV, WTS-TV, Reuters, and The Sun News. At WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, she broke news of the compromise to bring down the Confederate flag from the state house dome.

Desjardins earned a bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She also received a first level graduate degree in Russian Studies from the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia.

Desjardins’ reporting during and after the January 6th Capitol insurrection was the recipient of a Peabody Award, the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Joan S. Barone Award, and the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. She is also the recipient of a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 election and a Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for national breaking news for coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

Full Bio

Lisa’s Recent Stories

Politics Oct 19

How fear-based campaigning is affecting American voters

This year’s election is raising anxiety levels across the country. Why are so many Americans feeling stressed and fearful as the presidential campaigns enter their final sprint? We hear from some of them, and Lisa Desjardins reports on the conscious…

Politics Oct 08

5 takeaways from the VP debate

Vice President Mike Pence dodged questions much more frequently than his opponent during their debate Wednesday, instead launching counter-attacks against Sen. Kamala Harris and her running mate, former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee. But Harris also sidestepped…

Politics Sep 30

5 takeaways from the first Trump-Biden debate

Though policy differences were largely lost in a near-constant flurry of interruptions, cross-talk and pleas for decorum by the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, five themes emerged from the first presidential debate.

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