About Nick @nickschifrin
Nick Schifrin is the foreign affairs and defense correspondent for PBS NewsHour, based in Washington, D.C. He leads NewsHour's foreign reporting and has created week-long, in-depth series for NewsHour from China, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Cuba, Mexico, and the Baltics. The PBS NewsHour series "Inside Putin's Russia" won a 2018 Peabody Award and the National Press Club's Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.
Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent, based in Jerusalem. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza. He reported extensively on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders. And he arrived in Ukraine as violence peaked in Kiev and reported on the conflict in and annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage.
From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. He ran the Islamabad and Kabul bureaus for nearly four years, beginning at age 28.
Schifrin is a visiting fellow at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, where he lectures and teaches a foreign policy class. He is also a Council on Foreign Relations term member and an Overseas Press Club Foundation board member. He has a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), with a concentration in Strategic Studies.
Nick’s Recent Stories
World Sep 22
At UN General Assembly, little unity as Trump blasts China, WHO over pandemicThe United Nations General Assembly is underway -- but it looks very different this year. For the first time in the body’s history, the meeting is being held virtually due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, unity among member nations appears to…
World Sep 21
The international implications of new U.S. sanctions on IranThe Trump administration announced additional sanctions on Iran Monday, after declaring over the weekend that all United Nation sanctions initially lifted by the Iran nuclear deal had been reimposed. But that “snapback” of UN sanctions was rejected by much of…
World Sep 18
Can Afghanistan-Taliban talks end America’s longest war?The United States will soon enter its 20th year of fighting in Afghanistan. Nearly 3,600 American troops have died there, as well as hundreds of thousands of Afghans. But Afghanistan was at war decades before the U.S. invaded after 9/11.
World Sep 15
The shared interests and concerns that led to Israel’s normalization with Bahrain and UAEThe first Arab-Israeli agreement in 25 years was signed Tuesday on the White House South Lawn, as Israel normalized relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Joined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign ministers from Bahrain and…
World Sep 14
Despite spiraling coronavirus crisis, Syria’s ‘government is not concerned at all’After years of war and economic deprivation, Syria is poorly equipped to handle COVID-19. But the coronavirus is spreading fast, both in government-controlled Damascus and in the rebel-held northwest region of the country, where it is targeting the most vulnerable.
Nation Sep 10
Amid new reports of foreign election interference, whistleblower claim roils DHSU.S. elections continue to be a target of foreign interference. Microsoft announced Thursday that Russia, China and Iran are all trying to hack campaigns and officials. The news comes one day after a whistleblower from the Department of Homeland Security…
World Sep 02
Russia ‘launders’ disinformation by using fake personas, U.S. writersThe U.S. intelligence community has made it clear that when it comes to foreign interference in American elections, 2016 was only the beginning. As November approaches, efforts to persuade voters and sow disinformation and mistrust are growing. Nick Schifrin reports…
World Sep 01
An Iraqi official on why the country’s government needs ‘radical measures’The United States is drawing down its military presence in Iraq, reducing troops from 5,200 to 3,500 as part of a plan developed with the Iraqi government to hand over security responsibilities to its own forces. But the country also…
Nation Aug 31
U.S. intelligence ensnared in politics over election security briefingsWith Election Day just over two months away, Americans will begin casting ballots in a few weeks. The U.S. intelligence community has already warned of multiple attempts by foreign powers to intervene in the November election. But now comes word…
World Aug 28
The legacy of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is resigning due to illnessJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday that he is resigning because of a chronic health problem. A political veteran, he held the post longer than anyone else. Abe cultivated a friendly relationship with President Trump that some experts say…
