Rob Schmitz is a China correspondent, based in Shanghai, for Marketplace. His reporting in Japan—from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami—was included in the publication “100 Great Stories,” celebrating the centennial of Columbia University’s Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey’s account of Apple’s supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show’s “Retraction” episode, the most downloaded episode in the program’s 16-year history.
Prior to joining Marketplace, Schmitz was the Los Angeles bureau chief for KQED’s The California Report. He also worked as the Orange County reporter for KPCC, and as a reporter for MPR, covering rural Minnesota. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China; first as a teacher in the Peace Corps, then as a freelance print and video journalist. His television documentaries about China have appeared on The Learning Channel and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.In 2011, the Rubin Museum of Art screened a short documentary Schmitz shot in Tibet.
Among the honors Schmitz has received for his work are the Overseas Press Club Scholarship (2001); The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalist award (2001); the Scripps Howard Religion Writing Fellowship (2001); the International Reporting Project Fellowship (2002); the National Federation of Community Broadcasters award (2002); Golden Mic awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California (2005 and 2006); the Peninsula Press Club award (2006); the ASU Media Fellowship (2007); the Abe Fellowship for Journalists (2009); the Education Writers Association (2011); finalist, Investigative Reporters and Editors award (2013); and two national Edward R. Murrow awards (2012 and 2014).
Schmitz has a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and has lived in Spain, Australia, and China.
