Graylian Young

Graylian Young is an award winning journalist with an extensive background as an on air personality, and manager in both radio and television. Mr. Young is the former Southeast Bureau Chief for CNN. He joined CNN in May of 1980, one month before the network’s debut, as an assistant assignment editor on the network’s National News Desk. During the early days of CNN, he was often called upon as a field reporter to cover breaking news from Virginia to Florida. From hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires to riots, Young has seen firsthand the devastation nature and man can inflict on individuals and communities.

He has a number of notable “first” in his career. He was the first network reporter allowed inside the Atlanta Federal Prison during the 1990 Cuban prisoner takeover of that facility. He successfully negotiated network coverage from inside the prison for CNN, securing the first network interviews with the inmates, than served as media liaison between prison officials, inmates and other media. Young has covered or directed news coverage of a number of other important stories, including the 1998 Eric Robert Rudolph manhunt, the Jon Benet Ramsey funeral and murder investigation in 1997, the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, the shuttle Challenger disaster, and the 1995 Susan Smith trial. Young was the senior producer for CNN’s live coverage of the 1998 tornado aftermath in Alabama, and for the face to face meeting between Dexter King and James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of King’s father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He was honored with an Emmy for CNN’s coverage of the Olympic Park Bombing. He contributed to CNN’s recognition as the highest viewed newscast during Operation Desert Storm by facilitating the coverage of military deployment at several military installations in the Southeast. He was also a member of the team that helped grow a network with no affiliates to over 660 stations throughout the U.S.

He produced the 2006 Hearts for Humanity video for Morehouse School of Medicine Clinical Research Department funded by a grant from Bristol Myers Squibb. This health initiative was a 12 week outreach to adult members of the Atlanta African American community to assets health care needs and to provide classroom and field training in the areas of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle changes and to impact heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Young co-produced The Aids Chronicles (finalist for the Southeastern Media Awards, Atlanta Film Festival) which takes an in depth look at the impact of aids on Atlanta’s African American population Documentary films were not enough; Young has written his first feature length screenplay entitled “Church Swap.” The humorous, but insightful, screenplay is the story of two churches, one black and one white, in a small Georgia town, that swap pastors and choirs with each other. This uplifting story is a journey of self discovery that bridges and age old divide.

In August of 2004, Young was appointed to serve as a member of the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission by Governor Sonny Perdue. The commission provides oversight of Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) and its state wide network of radio and television stations.

Mr. Young also served as a freelance producer with the ABC Atlanta News Bureau. He is a member of the Atlanta Press Club.

Mr. Young is a graduate of Boston University, where he was a member of the WBUR radio staff. He and his wife, Gina, live in Stone Mountain, Georgia. They have two daughters.