Hi there! My name is Benjamin Payne, and I most recently served as the Savannah-based reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), the statewide NPR network for the Peach State. I moved to my wife’s hometown of Bellingham, Washington in August 2025, as she begins an exciting new chapter in her career.

Here are a few recent stories I'm especially proud of:

• Delay in care can be deadly in pregnancy. Here's one mother's experience with Georgia's abortion law

• Mocktails stir change in Savannah's tourism scene amid America's alcohol retreat

• Review: ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ takes the stage in lively musical adaptation

• Researchers are generating a ‘turtle's-eye view’ of the beach to save Georgia's baby sea turtles

• ‘Ro-ro’ your boat to Georgia: Why the state sees a lucrative future in automotive shipping

Throughout my career, my reporting has taken me from the barrier islands of coastal Georgia to the remote U.S. enclave of Point Roberts, Washington — and quite a few places in between: a vintage "L" train in Chicago that somehow still worked; a park in my small hometown of Rock Island, Illinois, that somehow hosted the first-ever NFL game; and an underground sourdough bread operation in Reno, Nevada, that somehow was not as sketchy as that sounds.

I've had the privilege of contributing to some of the most respected names in public media. My reporting has aired on NPR's flagship programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition, as well as Marketplace and the Marketplace Morning Report from American Public Media.

In 2020, I completed my Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism, where I specialized in news innovation and was recognized as Outstanding Student in Business Journalism. More recently, I contributed to the production of "Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas," which earned the prestigious 2024 Ambies Award for Podcast of the Year.

If you'd like to connect, email me at benjaminthomaspayne@gmail.com or find me on LinkedIn.

Thanks for stopping by!