Don Gonyea

Don Gonyea Speaker Biography

In January 2001, Don Gonyea was named NPR’s White House Correspondent, taking over the post previously held by NPR’s Mara Liasson who has become NPR’s National Political Correspondent. Gonyea’s coverage of events related to the Presidency can be heard frequently on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation. He is also a substitute host for the NPR newsmagazines Weekend Edition Sunday and All Things Considered. Don Gonyea has been reporting for National Public Radio since 1986.

Before moving to the White House beat, Gonyea spent nearly 15 years in Detroit reporting on the automobile industry and labor issues. He covered the lengthy auto workers’ strikes against General Motors during the summer of 1998, as well as work stoppages against UPS, the Detroit newspapers, and in the airlines industry. He also covered the scandal that led to the resignation of Teamsters President Ron Carey, which ushered in the election of Jimmy Hoffa’s son as the new Teamsters President.

Additionally, Gonyea has reported on the development of alternative fuel automobiles, as well as a variety of domestic issues, including assisted suicide, politics, education, and the 1999 closing of Detroit’s Tiger Stadium — the ballpark of his youth.

In addition to his work with NPR, Gonyea has been a contributor to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and PBS’s This Week in Business. His work is also seen and heard on the BBC, the CBC, and in the Columbia Journalism Review. Earlier in his career, Gonyea spent several years in commercial radio news. During the past 20 years, Gonyea has also periodically taught college journalism courses at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Gonyea has won numerous national and state awards for his reporting, and was part of the team that in 2000 earned a George Foster Peabody Award — broadcasting’s highest honor — for Lost & Found Sound, a series aired on All Things Considered. Lost & Found Sound is a continuing nationwide collaboration between NPR, independent producers, artists, radio stations, and listeners, led by executive producers The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) and Jay Allison.

For Gonyea, NPR is a unique broadcast environment. "NPR is the only place that lets me do the kind of journalism I like to do: in-depth storytelling that uses radio to bring stories to life in ways that we couldn’t elsewhere."

A native of Monroe, Michigan, Gonyea is an honors graduate of Michigan State University.