Friday, February 2

• Panel Discussion 2:30 p.m

“Sports in a Democratic Society”

Uri Berliner

Uri Berliner is the sports and business editor for National Public Radio’s National Desk. He was among the team of NPR reporters and editors in Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Olympic Games. There, he covered everything from security to events. In all, he has covered three Olympic games, the World Series and the NCAA Final Four. Along with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman, he received the 2004 Unity Award from the Radio Television News Directors Association for coverage of the challenges faced by Native American basketball players.

Berliner came to NPR in 1999 from California, where he worked as a reporter for 12 years at daily newspapers in San Diego and Santa Barbara. At the San Diego Union-Tribune, he covered wildfires, street gangs, the border and military issues before becoming the paper’s economics correspondent. His feature writing and investigative reporting earned several awards. Having extensively covered the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports over the years, Berliner wrote his first article about the use of steroids by athletes in 1988.

In 1998, Berliner was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where he studied business, history and economics. Originally from New York City, Berliner received his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College and went on to receive his master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

Berliner has spent an “ungodly” number of non-working hours in search of the perfect pickup basketball game. More recently, he has taken up tae kwon do with his son. He also enjoys R&B, opera, surf movies and the Food Network.