John Eric Yang (born February 10, 1958) is an American news correspondent, commentator and as of February 2016, a special correspondent for the

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the pro ...

. He previously worked for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

as a correspondent and commentator, covering issues for all

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

programming, including '' NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams'', ''Today'', and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

. He has also worked for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

as a correspondent.

Early life and education

Yang was born in Chillicothe,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, on February 10, 1958. He attended high school at

Western Reserve Academy , motto_translation = Light and Truth , address = 115 College Street , city = Hudson , state = Ohio , zipcode = 44236-2999 , country = United ...

, a private, coeducational boarding school in Hudson, Ohio, graduating in 1975. He went to college at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, where he graduated cum laude in 1980. Yang quickly became involved in political journalism, often writing about American politics and the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

Career

Early, print journalism

After college, Yang got a job as a reporter with ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', where he worked from 1980 to 1981. Yang moved on to ''Time'', where he worked as a correspondent from 1981 to 1986, and he also served as a reporter for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' from 1986 to 1990. In 1990 Yang became a reporter and editor at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', where he worked for nearly ten years. As a reporter he covered domestic politics, including Congress and the White House. As an editor he directed coverage of economic policy in the paper's business section and also directed political features in the Style section.

Television

In November 1999, Yang left ''The Post'' when he was offered a job as a

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

-based correspondent at

. In 2000, he became well known for covering the George W. Bush presidential campaign during Republican Party

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. After the primaries and until

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

, Yang covered the Al Gore campaign, and he continued to cover the campaign during the

Florida election recount The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Go ...

. After the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, Yang frequently reported live from the Pentagon and worked as part of the ABC News team that was awarded a Peabody Award and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for its 9/11 coverage. From 2002 to 2004, Yang was transferred to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, working as ABC's

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

correspondent. He covered every major development of the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israelis ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵלִים‎, translit=Yīśrāʾēlīm; ar, الإسرائيليين, translit=al-ʾIsrāʾīliyyin) are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jew ...

, including suicide bombings and Israeli military operations in Palestinian territories. In April 2005, Yang covered the death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, working with the ABC News team that also won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for its coverage of the event. In January 2007 Yang joined

as a correspondent. In November 2007, he was named NBC News White House correspondent. He covered the 2008 presidential race for '' NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams''. In 2009, Yang was transferred from NBC News' Washington bureau to its Chicago bureau. "NBC is moving me from the city of big egos to the city of broad shoulders," Yang told colleagues in a note. In February 2016, Yang began a position to work as a correspondent for the

. He serves as the anchor for

Weekend since December 31, 2022.

Personal life

Yang is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. In 2013, while working for NBC News' Chicago bureau, he bought a three-bedroom condominium in the Lake View neighborhood.

References

External links

Profile
at

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, John 1958 births Living people American journalists of Asian descent American television reporters and correspondents American male non-fiction writers NBC News people Peabody Award winners People from Chillicothe, Ohio Wesleyan University alumni American LGBT journalists American LGBT broadcasters 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American non-fiction writers American LGBT people of Asian descent LGBT people from Ohio PBS people Western Reserve Academy alumni People from Chicago Journalists from Ohio Journalists from Illinois 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers