Steven L. Herman

Steven L Herman, is the South Asia bureau chief for the Voice of America. Prior to his arrival in India in early 2007, Herman was a VOA correspondent based in Tokyo. During his 17 years in Japan he also contributed on-air reports and analysis to others broadcast news networks and programs including: AP Radio, Asia Calling, BBC, CBC, CBS News, CNN, Deutsche Welle, Marketplace and RTHK Radio 3.

Herman's articles, columns and opinion pieces have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Far Eastern Economic Review, Harvard Summer Review, "Honolulu Star-Bulletin", "Japan Times", Popular Communications, Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute), Radio World, Skyward, Shukan Bunshun, "South China Morning Post" and the "Wall Street Journal".

Career

Herman, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1959, worked as a print and broadcast reporter for the Associated Press in West Virginia and Washington, D.C. before returning to Japan in 1990 as a reporter/producer for "Asia Now," which aired weekly on PBS. From 1996 to 2000, he was the senior executive in Japan for the parent company of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Herman was elected for five consecutive years (1998-2002) to serve as Chairman of The Foreign Press in Japan (FPIJ) after completing a one-year term as President of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ). For the 2005-6 term, he was again on the FCCJ Board of Directors and continued to serve as the radio representative on the FPIJ Executive Committee until his assignment to South Asia.

He is also a licensed and active amateur radio operator with callsigns W7VOA (US), VU3USJ (India), A52SW (Bhutan), 7J1AIL (Japan), S21VOA (Bangladesh), 9N7VOA (Nepal) and T88SH (Palau).

Later life

Herman also has been President of the Japan-America Society of The American University and the Charleston (W.Va.) professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. During his award-winning career he has also served on boards of directors of the SPJ Las Vegas chapter and the California-Nevada AP Television-Radio Association (APTRA). He is a voting member of the Asian American Journalists Association, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia, the Overseas Press Club of America and the South Asian Journalists Association. Herman served on the Advisory Board of the Waseda Marketing Forum, associated with the Business School of Waseda University in Tokyo. In 2006 Herman served on the Japan panel to select recipients for the journalism fellows of the Fulbright Program. His print work includes two novels: "Last Assignment" and "Sunset 2020". He is also the author of a pictorial book, "Bhutan in Color 2007: A Himalayan Kingdom through the Lens of an American Journalist". Besides India, he has recently reported from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Education

Herman attended UNLV in the mid-1970's and later graduated from Thomas Edison State College. He has studied at the graduate level at numerous institutions, including American Military University, American University, Bath Spa University Mountain State University and Harvard University.