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Irene Noguchi Irene Noguchi is the Executive Producer leading NPR's Enterprise Storytelling Unit.
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Irene Noguchi

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Headshot of Irene Noguchi
Christina Z. White/KQED

Irene Noguchi

Executive Producer, Enterprise Storytelling Unit

Irene Noguchi is the Executive Producer leading NPR's Enterprise Storytelling Unit, which includes the talented teams creating podcasts Rough Translation, Invisibilia and Embedded, as well as Sunday episodes of Up First in collaboration with Morning Edition and longform narrative collaborations across public media. She brings a rich background of public radio, digital media and experience covering news and launching new podcasts.

Noguchi formerly led the Opinion Audio department at The New York Times, which included The Ezra Klein Show and First Person, among others, and was the Head of Audio at Politico. Prior to that, she co-launched Vox's daily news podcast Today, Explained as its executive producer.

Noguchi takes great pride in her public radio background, and produced news programming at NPR stations in San Francisco, Seattle and Las Vegas. She has been very fortunate to have worked with amazing teams in her career. In a past life, she was a lawyer and always, always reads the fine print.

Story Archive

Thursday

The Rules of War
Bas Czerwinski/AFP via Getty Images

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The Rules of War

International courts investigating alleged war crimes have made headlines often in recent months. An arrest warrant has been issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin; arrest warrants have also been requested for senior Hamas and Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The Rules of War

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Friday

The birth of the modern consumer movement
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Planet Money

The birth of the modern consumer movement

Today on the show, the story of the modern consumer movement in the U.S. and the person who inspired it: Ralph Nader. How Ralph Nader's battle in the 1960s set the stage for decades of regulation and sparked a debate in the U.S. about how much regulation is the right amount and how much is too much.

The birth of the modern consumer movement

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Thursday

The Right to Bear Arms
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The Right to Bear Arms

In April 1938, an Oklahoma bank robber was arrested for carrying an unregistered sawed-off shotgun across state lines. The robber, Jack Miller, put forward a novel defense: that a law banning him from carrying that gun violated his Second Amendment rights.

The Right to Bear Arms

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Thursday

Apology: The Way Back (2023)
Planet Flem

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Apology: The Way Back (2023)

Our society is saturated in apologies. They're scripted, they're public, and they often feel less than sincere. Political, corporate, celebrity apologies – they can all feel performed. It's not even always clear who they're for. So what purpose do these apologies serve? Because real apologies are not just PR stunts. Not just a way to move on. At their best, they're about acknowledgement and accountability, healing and repair. So how did apology go from a process to a product – and how can we make it work again?

Apology: The Way Back (2023)

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Thursday

Dare to Dissent
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Dare to Dissent

Sometimes, the most dangerous and powerful thing a person can do is to stand up not against their enemies, but against their friends. As the United States heads into what will likely be another bitter and divided election year, there will be more and more pressure to stand with our in-groups rather than our consciences.

Dare to Dissent

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Thursday

The Lord Of Misrule

A 19th-century engraving of Cpt. Miles Standish and his men observing the 'immoral' behavior of the Maypole festivities of 1628 at Merrymount. ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images hide caption

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ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

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The Lord Of Misrule

On November 18, 1633, a book went to press in London. Its author, Thomas Morton, had been exiled from the Puritan colonies in Massachusetts for the crimes of drinking, carousing, and – crucially – building social and economic ties with Native people. Back in England, Morton wrote down his vision for what America could become. A very different vision than that of the Puritans.

The Lord Of Misrule

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Thursday

How U.S. Unions Took Flight
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How U.S. Unions Took Flight

Hot Labor Summer has continued into fall as workers in industries from retail and carmaking to healthcare and Hollywood have organized and gone on strike. Public support for the U.S. labor movement is close to the highest it's been in 60 years. And that's no surprise to people who work in one particular industry: the airlines.

How U.S. Unions Took Flight

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Thursday

A History of Hamas

GAZA CITY, GAZA- Palestinian Hamas militants are seen during a military show in the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Chris McGrath/Getty Images hide caption

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Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Throughline

A History of Hamas

On October 7th, the organization Hamas, which is also the ruling government of Gaza, perpetrated an attack just across the border in Israel. The Israeli government says that the attack killed around 1200 people, most of them civilians. And Hamas also kidnapped hundreds more, including women and children, and took them back to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel has bombarded and invaded Gaza. More than 11,000 people have been killed, and many more displaced. Since that day we've heard from many of you, our listeners, with questions about Hamas. So we took a few weeks to talk to experts on all sides to answer those questions – people who know the history deeply, and have even participated in it. Today on the show: the origins of Hamas, the context in which it developed, and what it represents to Palestinians, Israelis, and the rest of the world.

A History of Hamas

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Thursday

How everyday people started a movement that's shaping climate action to this day

Rev. Ben Chavis, right, raises his fist as fellow protesters are taken to jail at the Warren County PCB landfill near Afton, N.C., on Sept. 16, 1982. Greg Gibson/AP hide caption

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Greg Gibson/AP

NPR's Climate Week: A Search For Solutions

How everyday people started a movement that's shaping climate action to this day

Deborah and Ken Ferruccio saw the toxic chemical spill while they were driving home late one summer night in 1978: a big smelly swath of brown oil on the side of the road. Reverend Willie T. Ramey saw it too. He was a pastor at two local churches and a respected community leader. And not long after that highway spill, he agreed to meet the Ferruccios just after midnight in a barn in Warren County, North Carolina. The Ferruccios told Reverend Ramey they needed his help. Someone was dumping toxic waste in their county, and they needed to organize. Today on the show: how a group of local citizens in a poor, rural, majority Black community came together to fight an iconic battle for environmental justice – and how their work laid a path that leads right up to today.

How everyday people started a movement that's shaping climate action to this day

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