Gideon Yago | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Yago in 2007 | |
| Born | (1978-02-19)February 19, 1978 (age 47) Madison, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | Columbia University (BA) |
| Known for | MTV News Correspondent |
Gideon Yago (born February 19, 1978) is a writer and former correspondent forMTV News andCBS News though he is most recognized for his contributions toMTV.
Yago was born inMadison, Wisconsin[1] to aGerman-born,Roman Catholic mother and aJewish father who met inIsrael.[2][3] His mother was a psychoanalyst and his father an economist.[4] He grew up inQueens, New York and graduated from theKew-Forest School[4] where he wrote and published azine called Corpuscle.[5] He graduated fromColumbia University and began working forMTV News during thepresidential election of 2000. At the age of 21, during the end of his senior year at Columbia, he had a full-time position at MTV.
Initially, Yago worked primarily as a writer for the MTV News department. From 2002-2003, Yago wrote and produced the MTV News magazineThe Wrap onMTV2. As his time at MTV progressed, Yago switched gears and began focusing on politics, rather than music, on MTV News. Yago has worked on award-winning documentaries onsexual health, the9/11 attacks, fighting inAfghanistan,hate crimes, the 2000 and2004 elections, and thewar in Iraq. These awards include: 2003 Peabody Award Winner for his programming on MTV's "Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself" sexual health campaign, a 2004 Emmy for MTV's Choose or Lose Programming, 2006 Emmy nomination for web coverage of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.[6][7] In 2005 Yago covered the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina inNew Orleans and the devastatingKashmir earthquake inPakistan andIndia.
Towards the end of his career at MTV, Yago devoted most of his time to covering issues surrounding the Iraq War and its effect on young veterans. In 2004 he told Charlie Rose he thought the war was the top issue for young people in America.[8] His 2006 MTV Special "Iraq Uploaded"[9] unintentionally helped change Pentagon policy denying wartime access to social networking sites as MTV is the only non-filesharing or social networking site mentioned in the subsequent ban.[10] Yago also discussed Iraq Uploaded with Stephen Colbert in August 2005.[11]
After years as a full-time member of MTV News, Yago left the network in January 2007 writing:[12]
"We are lucky to have an audience that treats us as peers. Though it might be seductive to play the short game with their trust in return for stacked favors and immediate gains, please keep fighting for them and thinking of them in the fine work that you all do. They deserve as much."
Throughout his career Yago has interviewed many politicians, musicians, and other celebrities including former presidentGeorge W. Bush, former presidentBill Clinton, former senatorJohn Kerry, former secretary of stateColin Powell, former vice presidentAl Gore, and SenatorJohn McCain, as well as other prominent figures, including former ambassadorL. Paul Bremer III andBill Gates. Yago's writing has appeared inSpin,Rolling Stone, andVICE magazines. Several of Yago's pieces of writing have later become the basis for documentary material. For example, his 2003 article "No War For Heavy Metal" became the basis for Vice Film's 2007 documentary "Heavy Metal in Baghdad".[13][14][15] Also, Yago's piece for PRI's "This American Life" about a teenaged propagandist for Saddam Hussein[16] became the basis for their "Talk To An Iraqi" segment on the second season of "This American Life" on Showtime.[17]
In 2006 Focus Features acquired his script "Underdog"[18] about veterans returning home from war. It has no set production or release date. Yago also completed a short series with IFC.The IFC Media Project is "a user's guide to how the news gets made" promising to expose the tactics used by media giants to "sell" the news. Yago returned as host of the second season of The IFC Media Project, in May 2009.
Yago co-wrote the third episode ofThe Newsroom withAaron Sorkin, entitled "The 112th Congress." He also worked onNarcos,Quantico and the finale of series one ofThe Mosquito Coast.
My dad was sort of a draft dodger and Zionist youth kid from Louisiana. My mom was a Roman Catholic school girl from Germany who turned socialist. She went to Israel to find out more about Judaism. My dad was in Jerusalem. It was after the Six Day War.
Meet Gideon Yago, the 25-year-old Jew from New York, who was sent to cover America's war in Iraq for MTV
His mother is a German-born psychoanalyst who now lives in Macon, Ga. His father is an economist in Los Angeles.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
