Multimedia journalist Yara Elmjouie has a contagious laugh and approachable demeanor that aptly disguises the fact that he is a multi-award winning talent. He most recently co-won a national Daytime Emmy Award for his work on the history of trespassing laws in the United States, and how those laws were created by a white-landowning-class that sought to prolong the conditions of slavery after it was abolished. Behind his charm lies a deliberate thirst for presenting useful information in an accessible way, and a passion for video games. In this AMEJA member spotlight, Elmjouie shares how he went from video game nerd to an award-winning journalist.
How readily do you answer phone calls from unknown numbers?
Yara Elmjouie: It’s impossible to know when, right? Right now, I'm just trying to sell this four-year-old PlayStation. I put it on Facebook Marketplace, and just trying to figure out who is real and who is a scammer has been challenging. I’ve been scanning their Facebook profiles to check if they seem real.
It's funny how journalists apply their prowess in everyday life. What drew you to journalism in the first place?
It was through video games. I'm a huge video game nerd. In high school, my parents would drop me off at Barnes & Noble or GameStop, and I would sit cross-legged on the floor and read all of the video game magazines, which meant that I didn't have to buy them. I loved reading about game design and criticism, so I thought I would love to analyze and write about video games.
In high school, I convinced my parents to take a family trip to Japan. We flew from California, and my grandparents came from Iran to meet us in Tokyo. On the flight back, as I'm heading back to my seat from the bathroom, I noticed the editor-in-chief of one of my favorite video game publications, 1up.com. I ripped out a piece of the in-flight magazine and wrote a note on it: “Hey. Are you Sam Kennedy? If so, please take out your Nintendo DS.” (The DS could wirelessly communicate with other DS consoles.) I called the flight attendant over with that button on the plane, and asked them to take seat 20 or whatever. And, lo and behold, Sam Kennedy, the editor in chief, is moving people out of the way from their seats to go into the overhead compartment and to take out his Nintendo DS. I expressed all of my profuse fascination and obsession with games and designers and media. And after I graduated from high school, in 2009, 1up.com brought me on as an intern. And that was my entry point into journalism.
What games did you play on the DS?
I have Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, where you play a lawyer. It sounds dull but is really fun. I have WarioWare: Touched!, New Super Mario Bros., Elite Beat Agents, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Did your parents buy you that last one?
No, actually! I read reviews and the game critics told me to buy it.
Did you dream of being a game critic yourself?
I did for a while. I wrote a few reviews while I was at 1up.com. But while interning at the video game publication, having a lovely time and getting to live out my dream of working with some of my favorite video game journalists, there was a little bit of an Edward Said phenomenon where all of a sudden, I became the reference point to a lot of Americans who became suddenly interested in Iran. Around that time, Iran was undergoing a massive protest movement that came to be known as the Green Movement. People would ask me “What's happening in Iran? I heard you're Iranian. What's going on? Can you tell me?” And I wasn’t sure, so I read up so I could answer questions. Looking back, it was a weird moment, but it played a big role in guiding me down a certain direction.
How did being singled out like that make you feel?
I grew up Iranian in a largely white town. I felt a need to course-correct and teach people what they might not frequently be exposed to. I've never been the type to say, “I'm not going to do that labor for you.” I actually relish teaching and educating people about things they may not know.
I'm sure that's relatable to many members of AMEJA. Was there a point in your journalism career where you went, “Wait, I'm actually good at this”?
I moved to Iran right after college in 2013 to cover Iranian society for Western media outlets as a print journalist, and it coincided with the election of President Hassan Rouhani. I wrote a lot for The Guardian. I also freelanced for Time Magazine and Al-Monitor. But I still wasn't making much money, so it didn't feel like a career. And when I moved back to San Francisco, I applied for a job with AJ+. A week or two later, I got an email for an interview. I had to produce a video in the office in a few hours.
They gave me a computer and told me to write a script, find visual assets, and put the video together. I had edited some videos before, but I needed to watch some YouTube tutorials. My heart was beating fast, but I managed. The next day, I saw the video published on Facebook and received an offer for a six-month contract. I almost cried and was super excited. It was a turning point, realizing I could still be a journalist even if I wasn't exclusively covering Iran.
How did "Eat This with Yara" become a thing?
I was on the news team for almost two years. I really liked to experiment and quickly learned to be a good video editor, making 1 to 2 news videos per day. I picked up tricks from colleagues and fell in love with video editing. The computer keyboard became my piano. I started working on personal projects, one of which was a story about the refugee crisis. I documented living off refugee rations and demonstrated how difficult it is, showing that it's just a tiny fraction of the challenges refugees face. The piece went viral, and from there, I started doing pieces on the social aspects of food. This led to the idea of a show about food and social justice, and "Eat This" was born.
And then you won an Emmy!
We won a Webby Award for a piece on food waste in the US, where we went dumpster diving and found a lot of perfectly good food. Later, we won a James Beard award for a piece on migrant farm workers and the myth of unskilled labor. Most recently, in December 2023, we won a Daytime Emmy Award for an episode on the history of trespassing laws in the US and how it intersects with foraging and racism.
The journey has been amazing. We've had budget cuts and staff reductions, but we're still pushing ahead. We have episodes on pesticides and a big documentary about a disaster related to banana farming. There's also a piece about food in Gaza. The stories are not necessarily about delicious food but about how food affects society and politics.
A friend recently told me that lemons are partly why the Sicilian Mafia exists.
There's a lot of crazy stories like that. I'm working on a story about food fraud and fake saffron mafias in Europe. It feels like my projects are always about some ingredient.
How can people support you?
People can follow me on Instagram, watch the videos and documentaries I make, and share or subscribe. Maybe they can email my bosses at Al-Jazeera and tell them to give me a promotion? But I'm grateful to remain in journalism, even though the industry is struggling. People don't realize the effort behind quality information. The amount of fact-checking and research we do is painstaking.
