About John @johnyangtv
John Yang is a correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. He covered the first year of the Trump administration and is currently reporting on major national issues from Washington, DC, and across the country.
Previously, Yang was a Chicago-based correspondent for NBC News, reporting for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, and MSNBC. Yang was part of an NBC team that reported on “In Plain Sight: Poverty in America,” a 2013 George Foster Peabody Award recipient, and his reporting in April 2011 on tornado devastation in Alabama was included in an NBC Nightly News broadcast that received an Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast.
Prior to joining NBC, Yang worked for ABC News, based in Washington, where he was weekend White House correspondent, and in Jerusalem, where he served as Middle East correspondent.
Yang has been part of teams that have been honored with an Emmy, two Peabody Awards and to Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards.
Yang’s career also includes time at The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, and The Boston Globe. He is a cum laude graduate of Wesleyan University.
John’s Recent Stories
Nation Jan 20
What role did the 3 other cops play in George Floyd’s murder?Jury selection began Thursday in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd. The charges and issues in this federal trial are different from those in the earlier state trial that ended…
Nation Jan 19
Analyzing the University of Michigan’s $490 million sexual abuse settlementThe University of Michigan has reached a $490 million settlement with former athletes and students who say they were sexually abused over decades by long-time university physician, Dr. Robert Anderson. Anderson died in 2008. Last year, a university-commissioned investigation concluded…
World Jan 18
The science behind the Tonga volcanic eruption, tsunamiThe first satellite images of the Pacific nation of Tonga after Saturday's volcanic eruption emerged Tuesday. The photos show the islands coated in ash. Despite the violent explosion, the Tongan government has reported just three deaths. The status of two…
Nation Jan 13
What a Supreme Court decision on vaccine mandates means for workersThe conservative majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Biden's COVID vaccination policy, stating that the administration had overstepped its authority with the rule, which would’ve applied to more than 80 million workers. Marcia Coyle,…
Nation Jan 07
Vaccine mandate challenge reveals deep divides in the Supreme CourtThe U.S. Supreme Court on Friday heard lengthy arguments challenging the Biden administration's vaccine and testing requirements in the workplace. The rules at stake are at the heart of the government's pandemic response and could have significant implications for roughly…
Nation Dec 23
How the guilty verdict in the Kim Potter trial could influence police reformA jury convicted former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter Thursday on two counts of manslaughter after 27 hours of deliberations. Potter shot Daunte Wright, 20, after reaching for her taser but drawing her gun. The April incident began as a…
Nation Dec 23
Supreme Court to hear arguments on two vaccine mandates. Here’s what to expectThe Supreme Court will hold a special hearing on Jan. 7 to consider challenges to two pieces of the Biden administration’s strategy to get the pandemic under control. One is the requirement that big employers ensure their staff either get…
Nation Dec 20
What we’ve learned from the Ghislaine Maxwell trialClosing arguments were made Monday in the federal sex-trafficking and conspiracy trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein. Maxwell faces six counts for allegedly aiding and abetting Epstein’s abuse of underage teens. She is accused…
Nation Dec 17
Defense rests after Kim Potter’s teary testimony in trial over Daunte Wright killingA jury in Minneapolis has gone home for the weekend, after Kim Potter, a white, former police officer, recounted the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a Black man. John Yang reports on Potter's Friday testimony.
Health Dec 15
What we know about the severity of omicron and possibility of ‘triple whammy’ this winterAs the omicron variant is spreading rapidly, top federal health officials warn it could bring a massive wave of new infections to the United States as early as January. There are now confirmed cases of omicron in at least 36…