In 1987, Gladstone joined National Public Radio, first as editor of "Weekend Edition with Scott Simon", and later became senior editor of "All Things Considered". In 1991, she received a Knight Fellowship to study Russian language and history. A year later, she was reporting from Moscow for NPR, covering stories such as the bloody 1993 power struggle. In 1995, Gladstone returned to the United States and was hired as NPR's first "media reporter," based in New York City.