About

Steven L Herman is the chief national correspondent of the Voice of America, reporting on major American stories, currently focusing on geo-politics, the 2022 midterm elections and climate policy.

From early 2017 through August of 2021, Steve was senior White House correspondent and subsequently VOA's White House bureau chief. During the Donald Trump administration, Steve was the radio pool reporter on dozens of Air Force One domestic and international flights, including the 45th president's final flight to Florida.

​Steve, in 2020, covered both the Republican incumbent's campaign, as well as that of the Democratic challenger and eventual victor, Joe Biden. He spent more than a quarter of a century in Asia, including years of reporting from Tokyo and subsequently as a VOA correspondent and bureau chief in India, South Korea and Thailand. Steve also served in 2016 as VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, based at the State Department and traveling to numerous countries with Secretary of State John Kerry.

Steve was one of 18 journalists from around the world who composed the Kiplinger Fellowship in Climate Change Reporting. He is currently the JURIST Journalist in Residence ( headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law). Steve was a First Cohort of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford and is an East West Center media alumnus.

Among the major news stories Steve has covered on scene over the decades include the Baneberry nuclear federal court trial (1979), MGM Grand Hotel fire (1980), Thai April Fool's coup (1981), Squeaky Fromme's prison escape (1987), the Kobe earthquake (1995), the Tokyo subway sarin attack (1995), handover of Hong Kong (1997), end of the Sri Lanka civil war (2009), the Fukushima nuclear disaster (2011), Typhoon Haiyan (2013), Thai coup (2014), the Erawan Shrine bombing (2015) and the Gorkha earthquake (2015).

Steve has reported from dozens of other countries and territories, including Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, England, Fiji, Finland, the Gaza Strip, Guam, Israel, Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, North Korea, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Saipan, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Steve has been one of the most active Washington journalists on social media with more than 112,000 followers on Twitter and 140,000 on LinkedIn.
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Steve appears frequently on such networks and channels as the ABC (Australia), ABC World News Weekend, ABS-CBN News (Philippines), Arirang TV, BBC, Buckmaster Show (KVOI Tucson), CBC Radio, the CBS Evening News, Channels TV (Nigeria), CNN, Euronews, eNCA (South Africa), e.tv News (South Africa), Fox News, John Batchelor Show (WABC New York), KBS Radio (Korea), KNPR (Nevada Public Radio), Money FM 89.3 (Singapore), NBS (Uganda), Newzroom Afrika (South Africa), NewstalkZB, Radio New Zealand, RTHK Radio 3, tbs Efm (Seoul), Thai PBS World, Times Radio (UK), TRT World (Turkey) and numerous TV news channels in India, including CNBC TV18, CNN-News18, Doordarshan, India Ahead, India Today, NewsX, Republic TV, Times Now and World Is One News.

​His articles, columns and reviews have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines including the Far Eastern Economic Review, Harvard Summer Review, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Japan Quarterly, Japan Times, On the Air, Popular Communications, Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute), Radio World, Shukan Bunshun, Shukan Gendai, South China Morning Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Steve has given presentations on such subjects as geo-politics, broadcast journalism and news literacy at numerous universities, media organizations and other institutions, including in Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Recent guest lecture appearances have included classes at Claremont McKenna College, National Intelligence University, Ohio State University School of Communication, OLLI/George Mason University, Seattle Central College, University of Mary Washington and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

In addition to years of reporting for AP, including as the wire service's state broadcast editor in West Virginia, Steve's career has also included stints as a media executive in Asia, launching Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in Japan. He was an executive producer of the 2004 documentary The History of America's Secret Casinos.

Steve is a life member of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, of which he was elected president for the 1997-98 term. He also served as president of the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club and the Japan-America Club of The American University. Steve was previously on the board of governors of the Overseas Press Club of America.

Currently, Steve serves on the board of governors of the American Foreign Service Association and is vice president for broadcast of the DC chapter of AAJA. He is also a member of the National Press Club, SPJ, SAJA and the WHCA.

A native of Cincinnati, Steve began his media career in Las Vegas before moving to Asia.

A lifelong learner who completed undergraduate or graduate level coursework at UNLV, The New School, University of Bath and the Harvard Extension School, Steve earned a B.A. at Thomas Edison State University, an M.A. in Public Diplomacy from Mountain State University and was awarded a journalist fellowship by the LMU Loyola Law School. ​

Other Works

  • Bhutan in Color 2007: A Himalayan Kingdom through the Lens of an American Journalist

    2007