Murphy has worked in America as a reporter forThe Washington Post and forThe Christian Science Monitor.[1] She has worked for theGlobalPost andThe National while inSaudi Arabia. As a foreign correspondent forThe Washington Post, she reported in the following regions:South Africa (following theSoweto uprising andSteve Biko slaying by the police);Cairo as bureau chief, in charge of Arab world coverage; andKuwait during border crossing and subsequent Emirate occupation by Iraqi forces. She was part of team covering the Gulf War from Southern Arabia, and she was a reporter for three months during a tour of duty inBaghdad.[2]
In terms of her work in America, she is on top of coverage in the following areas: American immigration policy, American federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, and religion.
Murphy was the 1994–1995Edward R. Murrow Fellow at theCouncil on Foreign Relations in New York.[4] In 2002, in the Washington Post's Book World she was described by Emran Qureshi, as having engaged in "careful reporting and cogent analysis [that] present[ed] readers with an indispensable opportunity to understand how the variegated strands of Islam – tolerant reformist traditions as well as militant anti-Western ones – have taken root in the Arab world's most vital civilization."
Murphy has written two books:Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience, andA Kingdom's Future: Saudi Arabia Through the Eyes of its Twentysomethings (illustrated by Kathy Buttefield).[5][6]
