Ted Robbins

A seasoned broadcast journalist, Ted Robbins covers the Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, West Texas, northern Mexico, and Utah. His seasoning, then, includes plenty of chile pepper. It also includes five years as a regular contributor to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, work as a field producer for CBS News, stints at NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, as well as radio reporting in Salt Lake and print reporting for USA Today. He joined NPR in October 2004 and is based in Tucson.

The Southwest is growing fast and Robbins' beat includes the Mexican border, so his reporting focuses on immigration, water, development, land-use, natural resources, and the environment. From Tombstone to Santa Fe, Phoenix to Las Vegas, Moab to Indian Country, there's no shortage of people, politics, and places worth covering. Throughout it all, Robbins' reporting is driven by his curiosity to find, understand, and communicate all sides of each story through accurate, clear, and engaging coverage.

In addition to his domestic work, Robbins has done international reporting in Mexico, El Salvador, Nepal, and Sudan.

Robbins' reporting has won numerous awards, including Emmys for a story on sex education in schools, and a series on women at work. He won a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."

He says he is delighted to be covering stories for his favorite news source for years before he worked here. Robbins discovered NPR in Los Angeles, where he grew up, while spending hours driving (or standing-still) on freeways.

Robbins earned his B.A. in psychology and his master's in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He also taught journalism at the University of Arizona for 10 years.

When he's not working, Robbins enjoys camping, hiking, skiing, traveling, movies, theatre, cooking (back to seasoning), reading, and spending time with his young daughter.