Campus Life : Eye on OU

Gideon Yago stirs political interest, dishes about MTV

By Joe Lowe, Staff Writer
   
September 30, 2008 | 10 p.m.

Gideon Yago discussed his journalism career while raising awareness about the 2008 presidential campaign Monday, Sept. 29 at Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium. Yago urged the audience to take advantage of what he considers a politically opportune moment to be heard.

Yago, who began working as journalist in 2000 while still a senior at Columbia University, first achieved fame as an MTV political correspondent. He later went on to complete a series of award-winning documentaries with subjects ranging from Hurricane Katrina to hate crime in America. While speaking at the University Programming Council-sponsored event at Ohio University, Yago traced the history of career, including some of its highlights like a surreal lunch with Nelson Mandela while traveling in Africa with Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton.

Since much of Yago’s career has been spent reporting, he had plenty of insights to share about the state of journalism in America. While noting that cable news has become increasingly inundated with time-filling commentary, he still has good things to say about the print coverage. “Print does an admirable job. I’ve been impressed with some of the longer pieces I’ve seen about the election in magazines like Atlantic and The New Yorker.”

He also discussed MTV's recent political campaign, labeling it a “strategic misfire.” By foregoing a strategy based on the presentation of “reality," MTV has failed to generate the interest it might had it not pushed a celebrity-led campaign faced by P. Diddy and other Rock the Vote stars, Yago claimed.

Yago openly admitted that he eventually felt “burnt out” working for MTV. Frustrated by a lack of political “apparatuses” to support the youth vote, he has seen interest wax and wane repeatedly without any long-lasting gains. After quitting MTV, Yago began to focus on scriptwriting, completing several in the last few years. His latest, which he worked on last summer, deals with Wall Street.

Despite feeling discouraged by past youth vote initiatives, Yago still has high hopes for the 2008 election. The interest generated this year among young voters has impressed Yago. “Everyone has a reason to turnout this year,” he said. The 2008 election, Yago noted, will likely inspire the largest youth vote turnout in American history. “You guys are the 800-pound gorilla this election,” Yago said.

He encouraged students to vote by pointing out that they have never been faced with a better opportunity to make their voices heard. This is due, in part, to a rising demographic surge in voters between the ages of 18 and 26, which now numbers 78 million, the largest in U.S. history. “It will be decades before you have a chance like this again, so take advantage of it,” Yago said. In 1992, after a large youth vote turnout, Yago said, Generation X was rewarded with national legislation aimed to improve educational and job opportunities.

After finishing his speech, Yago took audience questions. These inquiries ranged from the serious (“What do you think about the 700 billion dollar bailout plan?” He's opposed to it), to the personal (“What is on your play list?” Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker, among other blues legends.)