Madhulika Sikka hired to create flagship podcast at Washington Post

The Washington Post has hired award-winning journalist and veteran audio storyteller Madhulika Sikka as an executive producer on The Post’s audio team. Sikka will hire a team and oversee the creation of a new flagship podcast set to launch later this year.

Madhulika Sikka, who begins her new assignment Sept. 10, is also a former senior producer of Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” on ABC News and most recently served as public editor at PBS. The podcast is expected to launch later this year.

 “The Post is making a major investment in audio following the tremendous success of podcasts like “Can He Do That?” and “Presidential,” said Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, managing editor at The Washington Post. “Madhulika brings to this role incredible news judgment and deep knowledge about the medium, positioning her to develop a show that aligns with The Post’s commitment to high-quality journalism and innovation.”

Sikka joins The Post from PBS where she served as Public Editor. Previously, Sikka was Executive Editor at NPR News where she worked for nine years and also served as the executive producer of “Morning Edition,” the most listened-to radio news broadcast in the country. Prior to that she was a television producer at ABC News for 13 years including senior producer at Nightline with Ted Koppel.

She is a recipient of multiple awards for her journalism including Emmys, duPonts, Peabodys, as well as from NABJ, SAJA, the RTNDA and the RTCA. She is also a writer and author of the book A Breast Cancer Alphabet. Sikka holds an undergraduate degree from the University of London and a master’s of philosophy in Economics and Politics of Development from Cambridge University (U.K.).

The Post’s managing editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, said that the paper “is making a major investment in audio following the tremendous success of podcasts like ‘Can He Do That?’ and ‘Presidential.’ “ He said “Madhulika brings to this role incredible news judgment and deep knowledge about the medium, positioning her to develop a show that aligns with the Post’s commitment to high-quality journalism and innovation.”

During her time with “Morning Edition,” Sikka was “credited with revitalizing the show and making it more relevant and lively,” said the press release. “She was then promoted to run the NPR newsroom as executive editor, where she helped integrate audio and digital and led cross-newsroom coverage, including the Peabody Award-winning coverage of the Ebola crisis,” said the press release. Sikka told India Abroad she was looking forward to the new challenge to “create something from scratch.” Earlier, in a Facebook post she noted that while it had been quite some time since she’d been in a daily newsroom, if she was going to work in one “The Washington Post seems like a good one!”