Shereen Marisol Meraji

Shereen Marisol Meraji is the co-host and senior producer[1] of Code Switch, a critically acclaimed podcast covering race, culture and diversity issues[2], one of NPR's highest rated podcasts.[3]

Shereen Marisol Meraji
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSan Francisco State University
EmployerNPR
Known forCode Switch

Early life

Meraji is a native Californian and San Francisco State graduate. Meraji's family background includes Puerto Rican and Iranian roots. As a young girl, Meraji was bullied by classmates about her Iranian heritage.[4]

Meraji's mixed-race background has informed her approach to stories and journalism, noting in an interview with Latina Magazine that "never having really belonged, being on the margins while observing everything, that's made me a natural journalist – not quite a part of something, always observing".[5]

Career

Before starting at Code Switch, Meraji was a professional reporter and producer, working and freelancing for various radio organizations, including Southern California Public Radio, and Marketplace.[6] At NPR she served as director of the midday show Day to Day and later served as a producer for NPR's flagship newsmagazine All Things Considered. In 2007, Meraji received an International Reporting Project Fellowship and traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, where she reported on youth culture.[7]

Meraji gained attention for her 2014 feature for Third Coast Festival titled "Audio Code Switching: Tackling Race on the Radio”, focusing on the seeming homogeneity of voices represented in public radio, a phenomenon sometimes known as "public radio voice", and the need for greater representation of diverse voices and stories.[8] She also served as a judge for the festival in 2015.[9]

In 2014, Meraji was sent to report from Ferguson, Missouri during protests following the death of Michael Brown as a result of a police shooting. Meraji described an incident when part of her piece capturing an interview with a protester was cut from a radio program, leading to criticism from some listeners that she had failed to report on perspectives from all sides. "That made me want to do podcasts, for there to be more time to be nuanced conversations, to talk about the grey areas, to show that there are more than two sides to a story.”[4]

Starting in 2016, Meraji hosted NPR's Code Switch podcast with co-host Gene Demby. Meraji has stated that she hopes the podcast, which deals with race, culture and identity, will make "[these issues] more accessible to a broader audience".[10] Meraji's work is part of an emerging development in news content and analysis that involves engaging younger, more diverse audiences,[11] often by picking up on themes first advanced from social media platforms, blogs and pop culture.[12] According to an interview with Meraji by WWD in July 2016, the podcast had over 1 million downloads within its first two months on air, with the co-host aiming to create an inclusive space for discussing topical issues such as the shooting of Philando Castile, the Black Lives Matter movement and the viewpoint of supporters of President Donald Trump during the 2016 election.[13]

In the wake of the George Floyd protests Code Switch ratings increased significantly, as Meraji and took on controversial topics such as "What is a Karen?" and "Our Homeland is Each Other".[14]

Meraji received journalism awards from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in 2015 and 2016,[15] the latter for a piece she reported on about an inspirational scout leader for a troupe of at-risk boys .[16] In 2017, a sample of topics she covered for Code Switch included refugee resettlement in Montana,[17] the impact of school closings on children[18] and how to celebrate a Persian New Year.[19]

References
  1. gothamartists.com https://gothamartists.com/shereen-marisol-meraji/. Retrieved 2020-08-02. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Hess, Amanda (2016-12-06). "The Best New Podcasts of 2016". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  3. "How NPR's 'Code Switch' Podcast Became a Hit Telling Stories "The Way They Needed to Be Told"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  4. Biraben, Amancai. "Radical Voices, Radical Stories". City on a Hill Press. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  5. "Meet Shereen Marisol Meraji, a Latina Journalist Tackling Race & Identity Through Podcasting". LATINA. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  6. "Shereen Marisol Meraji". www.marketplace.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  7. "Meraji, Shereen — International Reporting Project". internationalreportingproject.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  8. "Reading List: These Are Not White Men Talking - AIR". AIR. 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  9. "Shereen Marisol Meraji". www.thirdcoastfestival.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  10. "Interview: Kat Chow and Shereen Marisol Meraji of NPR's Code Switch". www.themarysue.com. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  11. "Public Radio and the Sound of America". niemanreports.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  12. "What does the intersection of race and culture sound like? NPR's Code Switch is looking for the right mix". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  13. Steigrad, Alexandra (2016-07-14). "NPR Tackles Race, Gender and Identity in America With Code Switch Podcast". WWD. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  14. "Our Homeland Is Each Other : Code Switch". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  15. "Honorees/Winners of the 2016 NAHJ Awards - NAHJ". www.nahj.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  16. "Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful ... This Great Teacher Abides By The Scout Law". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  17. "Refugee Resettlement Evokes Fear, Debate In Montana". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  18. Meraji, Shereen Marisol. "Episode 13: Struggling School, Or Sanctuary?". Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  19. FM, Player, A Bittersweet Persian New Year, retrieved 2017-05-17
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