AJR  The Beat
From AJR,   September 1995

Radio Redux   

By Julie Gammill Gibson
Julie Gammill Gibson is a former AJR editorial assistant.     


Over 15 years after she left full time news broadcasting for writing and motherhood, Kati Marton returns to the place where her career began: National Public Radio .

Marton, who landed her first job as an "All Things Considered" researcher in 1971, rejoins NPR as host of "America and the World," a weekly international affairs show. The program focuses on what Marton describes as a younger approach to foreign news. "Foreign affairs is changing so rapidly it's not just the domain of diplomats," Marton says. "We're going to concentrate on people who are not diplomacy wonks, not the usual suspects."

The rapidly changing world that Marton examines for NPR marks an evolution from the divided world she covered as ABC 's Bonn bureau chief during the late '70s. "The boundaries were so sharp when I first started working for ABC as a foreign correspondent, [during] the heyday of the Cold War."

Marton grew up in that old world, within the borders of then-Communist Hungary. Her mother, Ilona , was a correspondent for UPI , and her father, Endre , reported for AP . At age 7 Kati's parents were arrested and convicted as CIA agents – for reporting events accurately.

Marton now lives in New York with Elizabeth , 15, and Christopher , 13, her children from her marriage to ABC's Peter Jennings . Her new husband, Richard Holbrooke , is assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs.

Known more as a writer than as a broadcaster in recent years, Marton has written four books, including her latest, "A Death in Jerusalem." She says she's taking a rest from writing to enjoy her return to radio.

"The reward is much faster than writing," she says. And radio has a great advantage over TV: "You don't have to get dressed up for it."

###