Russell Lewis

As 91¸£Àû's Southern Bureau chief, Russell Lewis covers issues and people of the Southeast for 91¸£Àû — from Florida to Virginia to Texas, including West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. His work brings context and dimension to issues ranging from immigration, transportation, and oil and gas drilling for 91¸£Àû listeners across the nation and around the world.

In addition to developing and expanding 91¸£Àû's coverage of the region, Lewis assigns and edits stories from station-based reporters and freelancers that air on 91¸£Àû's news programs, working closely with local correspondents and public radio stations. He spent a year in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, coordinating 91¸£Àû's coverage of the massive rebuilding effort and the reverberations of the storm in local communities. He joined 91¸£Àû in 2006 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Lewis is also a key member of 91¸£Àû's 'Go Team' — a small group of experienced 91¸£Àû producers and reporters who respond to major disasters worldwide. He is often among the first on the scene for 91¸£Àû — both reporting from these sites as well as managing the logistics of bringing additional 91¸£Àû reporters into disaster areas that lack functioning transportation systems, basic utilities, food, water, and security.

He was dispatched to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, where he helped manage a group of 91¸£Àû journalists. He created an overland supply line for the 91¸£Àû team between the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought listeners stories about the slow pace of supply distribution because of border bottlenecks. In Japan in 2011, he was quickly on the scene after the earthquake and tsunami to help coordinate 91¸£Àû's intensive coverage. In 2013, he was on the ground overseeing 91¸£Àû's reporting in the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Covering the impact of the massive earthquake in Nepal in 2015, he field-produced 91¸£Àû's coverage and also reported how a lack of coordination by the government and aid workers slowed response. Lewis managed 91¸£Àû's on-the-ground coverage in 2015 of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and reported from Brussels, Belgium. He returned to Brussels in 2016 after the terrorist bombings at the airport and metro station. He helped field-produce 91¸£Àû's coverage and also reported several stories about the response and recovery. In 2018, he went to Indonesia to field-produce and edit coverage following the earthquake and tsunami in Palu.

Lewis also oversees 91¸£Àû's sports coverage. He spent six weeks in Brazil in 2014 handling logistics and reporting on the World Cup. In 2015, he did the same in Canada for the Women's World Cup. In 2016, Lewis reported and oversaw 91¸£Àû's team of journalists at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also led 91¸£Àû's coverage from Pyeongchang, South Korea, at the 2018 Winter Olympics and from Tokyo at the delayed Summer Olympics in 2021.

In 2010, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University awarded him a prestigious Ochberg Fellowship. The Fellowship is designed to improve reporting on violence, conflict, and tragedy. Lewis has continued his work with the Dart Center and has trained reporters on behalf of the organization in Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.

A graduate of the University of Florida, Lewis began his public radio career in 1992 as reporter and executive producer at 91¸£Àû member station WUFT in Gainesville, Florida. He also spent time at WSVH in Savannah, Georgia, and was Statehouse Bureau Chief at Kansas Public Radio. For six years he worked at KPBS in San Diego as a senior editor and reporter. He also was a talk show host and assistant news director at WGCU in Fort Myers, Florida.

When he's not busy at work, Lewis can be found being creative in the kitchen or outside refereeing soccer games.