Danny Gold (journalist)

{{Short description|American journalist and documentary filmmaker}}

{{distinguish|text=Danny Gold of Liberty Writers News}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}

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| caption = Danny Gold reporting for Vice News

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| birth_place = New York City

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| education = Tufts University,

CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

| occupation = Journalist

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Danny Gold is an American journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is a 2018 Pulitzer Center grantee for reporting on gangs in El Salvador.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pulitzercenter.org/projects/only-way-out-el-salvador|title=The Only Way Out in el Salvador}} Gold has produced documentaries and worked as a correspondent for PBS Newshour,{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/author/danny-gold|title = Danny Gold | Author| website=PBS }} AJ+, The Guardian,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2018/jul/19/the-only-way-out-is-through-jesus-el-salvadors-brutal-gangs-and-salvation-video|title='The only way out is through Jesus': The el Salvador pastors saving MS-13 gang members - video|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 19, 2018|last1=Gold|first1=Danny|last2=Brandvold|first2=Neil|last3=Kim|first3=Michelle|last4=Silverstone|first4=Tom|last5=MacFarlane|first5=Ken|last6=Khalili|first6=Mustafa}} Fusion TV, HBO, and others. Gold was a founding producer and host for Vice News, and has written featured stories for The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, and The New York Times, among others. He focuses on organized crime, armed conflict, and crises.

Personal life

Danny Gold was born in New York City. He attended White Plains High School.{{Cite web |last=theorangewphs |date=2018-10-16 |title=WPHS Welcomes Famed Journalist Danny Gold |url=https://www.theorangewphs.com/post/wphs-welcomes-famed-journalist-danny-gold-1 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=The Orange {{!}} WPHS |language=en}} Gold graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005, and a master's degree in Journalism from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in 2010.{{cite web|url=https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/2012/04/danny-gold-10-is-a-mirror-award-finalist/|title=CUNY Graduate School of Journalism " Danny Gold ('10) is a Mirror Award Finalist|work=cuny.edu|date=April 17, 2012|accessdate=March 25, 2017}} Gold has written that all four of his grandparents are Holocaust survivors and that two grandparents were the only surviving members of their families.{{Cite web |title=Tablet |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/man-who-saved-my-grandfather-holocaust}}

Early career

Gold was a stringer for the New York Post from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, Gold began reporting for The Wall Street Journal. His coverage focused on New York City crime and breaking news. Gold covered the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013{{cite web|url=https://muckrack.com/danny-gold/articles|title=Articles written by Danny Gold|work=muckrack.com|accessdate=March 25, 2017}} and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for The Wall Street Journal{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324481204578181542025261964|title=Suspect, Mother Come into Focus|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=December 16, 2012}} and reported from Myanmar for NBC News.

Conflict reporting

=Syria=

During his first report from Syria during its civil war in 2012, Gold gained some of the earliest access to the People's Protection Units (YPG).{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-ypg/|title=Meet the YPG, the Kurdish Militia That Doesn't Want Help from Anyone|work=vice.com|date=October 31, 2012 |access-date=March 25, 2017}} In March 2013, during the Battle of Ras al-Ayn, Gold embedded with the Free Syrian Army's Mashaal Brigade.{{cite web|url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a23556/seven-days-with-syrian-rebels/|title=Seven Strange Days With the Young Syrians Fighting Assad|date=September 26, 2013|work=Esquire|accessdate=March 25, 2017}}

Gold returned to Syria in 2015, where he was one of only a handful of journalists reporting directly from the besieged city of Kobane.{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/welcome-to-stalingrad-welcome-to-kobane-inside-the-syrian-town-under-siege-by-the-islamic-state/|title='Welcome to Stalingrad. Welcome to Kobane': Inside the Syrian Town Under Siege by the Islamic State – Vice News|work=vice.com|date=January 13, 2015 |access-date=March 25, 2017}}

=Gaza=

In late 2013, Gold was hired at the newly created international news outlet, Vice News.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/03/04/vice-news-launches-promising-changing-of-the-guard-in-media/|title=Vice News Launches, Promising 'Changing of the Guard in Media'|first=Jeff|last=Bercovici|work=Forbes|accessdate=March 25, 2017}} As part of the original launch team, Gold was deployed to Gaza in 2014 to cover the Israel-Gaza conflict. During that deployment, a series of 9 video dispatches were released,{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTRthNWxli0|title=Kidnappings and Killings Spark Demonstrations in Israel: Rockets and Revenge (Dispatch 1)|last=Vice News|date=July 10, 2014|accessdate=March 25, 2017|via=YouTube}} focusing on both the violence and political implications of the conflict.

=Iraq=

Gold headed Vice's breaking news coverage of the 2014 attack on Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He spent time on the frontline in Mosul during the early stages, and later embedded with Kurdish militia forces in the northern city of Kirkuk. When ISIL began an assault on the Christian city of Qaraqosh, east of Mosul, Gold covered the Peshmerga's attempts to fortify the city against ISIL mortar attacks.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RojiK_l45hY|title=Fighting Back Against ISIS: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 1)|last=Vice News|date=June 17, 2014|accessdate=March 25, 2017|via=YouTube}}

Gold returned to Mosul in 2016 as a freelancer to cover the U.S.-supported military operation to liberate the city from ISIL control. The offensive was considered a final test of President Barack Obama's military strategy in the Middle East,{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-usa-idUSKCN12I0AO|title=For U.S. and Obama, Mosul campaign is calculated risk|date=October 19, 2016|accessdate=March 25, 2017|work=Reuters}} and was called a "disaster" by President Donald Trump.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/05/politics/donald-trump-mosul/index.html|title=Trump continues to knock Mosul offensive, calls leaders 'group of losers'|first=Jeremy |last=Diamond|date=November 5, 2016|publisher=CNN|accessdate=March 25, 2017}} The report was released by Fusion TV.

=Ebola=

During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Gold and a team from Vice News traveled to Monrovia, Liberia. He produced a half-hour special on the epidemic, speaking to doctors, aid workers, and victims. Gawker called the brashness of the report "terrifying".{{cite news |last1=Nolan |first1=Hamilton |url=https://gawker.com/danny-golds-vice-story-about-ebola-in-liberia-is-terrif-1644506581 |title=Danny Gold's Vice story about Ebola in Liberia is terrifying, and not just for the lack of protective gear in evidence|access-date=20 May 2021 |publisher=Gawker |date=9 October 2014}} The film went on to win a 2015 Webby Award.{{cite web|url=http://webbyawards.com/winners/2015/online-film-video/general-film-categories/documentary-series/the-fight-against-ebola/|title=The Fight Against Ebola – The Webby Awards|work=webbyawards.com|accessdate=March 25, 2017}}

=El Salvador=

Gold began reporting from El Salvador in 2015, covering MS-13 and 18th Street gang activity, and government countermeasures. In 2018, he received a Pulitzer Center grant to investigate the effects of American deportation, as well as methods for escaping the cycle of gang violence.

Awards

  • 2012: Mirror Award Nominee{{cite web|url=https://news.syr.edu/2012/04/finalists-announced-for-sixth-annual-mirror-awards/|title=Finalists announced for sixth annual Mirror Awards|work=syr.edu|date=April 16, 2012 |accessdate=March 25, 2017}}
  • 2013 Fellowship from the International Center for Journalists{{cite web|url=https://www.icfj.org/about/profiles/daniel-gold|title=Daniel Gold – ICFJ – International Center for Journalists|work=icfj.org|accessdate=March 25, 2017}}
  • 2015: Webby People's Voice Award for Online Film & Video
  • 2018: Pulitzer Center Reporting Grant

References

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