his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in your final year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter, and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought i had things to say. and what i didn t realise at the time was the degree to which reporting, running out and talking to people, finding out, all of that, is the nuts and bolts of everything, including column writing. so as someone who hadn t done an awful lot ofjournalism and heri
illegal annex president this was his first visit since ordering a full scale invasion of ukraine 13 months ago. now bbc news. it s the media show. my guest today has covered some of the most defining stories of our time. gary younge briefly became part of nelson mandela s entourage, joined revellers as president obama was elected, and has covered much else too gay marriage, brexit, the windrush scandal, and the black lives matter movement. gary left full time journalism at the guardian in 2020 to become professor of sociology at the university of manchester. although he continues to write articles for various publications and books. his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in your final year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i
gay marriage, brexit, the windrush scandal, and the black lives matter movement. gary left as a full time journalism at the guardian in 2020 to become professor of sociology at the university of manchester. although he continues to write articles for various publications and books. his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in your final year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought
And i actually went to new orleans several times over a couple of years after katrina and it was very hard to pick one. it was such a devastating occurrence and it was one of those moments where you couldn tjust gloss over it. and so, kind of, the american media in that moment kind of discovered race and class in a way that teenagers kind of discover sex, you know, it was kind of careless and urgent and just a little bit too eager. i wanted to speak specifically on race, in 2015 you wrote in yourfarewell piece to america about a period of protracted racial conflict that you witnessed, including murder of unarmed black men, trayvon martin, eric garner, what was that experience like for you reporting on those stories? there s a really interesting thing that happened with black lives matter in particular, which was that it wasn t and it hasn t been that more black people were being killed by the police. it was that, for whatever reason, partly it s new technology and who can take pictures
A little bit too eager. i wanted to speak specifically on race. in 2015, you wrote, in yourfarewell piece to america about a period of protracted racial conflict that you witnessed, including murder of unarmed black men, trayvon martin, eric garner, what was that experience like for you reporting on those stories? there s a really interesting thing that happened with black lives matter in particular, which was that it wasn t and it hasn t been that more black people were being killed by the police. it was that, for whatever reason, partly it s new technology and who can take pictures and distribute and amplify, people were paying attention in a way they hadn t before.