Anastasia Graham-Yooll
Put a defence official, a diplomat, and a humanitarian voice on the same stage and the session usually tilts. Either the chair has a side, or no one tests the speakers at all. Most moderators can keep time. Few can press a partisan room on substance, stay neutral, and still get a decision out of the hour.
Anastasia Graham-Yooll is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and moderator who chairs high-stakes panels on geopolitics, conflict, and press freedom for global summits and policy forums.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Anastasia Graham-Yooll
- She has reported conflict from the inside, as part of the CNN team that won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, and more recently on the Iran war. Few moderators on a geopolitics panel have stood that close to the story.
- She has produced for outlets at opposite ends of the political spectrum, from CNN and Al Jazeera English to Fox News and News Nation. For a board-level panel on a divisive issue, that means a chair who can hold a partisan room without being read as taking a side.
- Two decades of editorial work across CNN International, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English means she can shape a programme arc, brief speakers in advance, and keep a session on the record without drift.
- As a Ukrainian journalist based in London, she brings primary-source authority on the fracturing rules-based order that few UK-based moderators can match.
- She brings a working position on press freedom, journalist mental health, and neurodiversity in newsrooms to media, culture, and people-focused programmes.
Biography highlights
- Co-recipient of the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, as part of the CNN team.
- Over two decades of broadcast and production experience across CNN International, CNN en Español, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English.
- Recent reporting spans the political spectrum, including production work on the Iran war for the US networks Fox News and News Nation.
- Founder and Executive Director of HGY Media Ltd, a London-based documentary production and media consultancy firm.
- Former media consultant to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, advising on communications for its agribusiness and food-security strategy.
- Public advocate for press freedom, ethical storytelling, journalist mental health, and neurodiversity in newsrooms.
Biography
A geopolitics panel is only as good as the person in the chair. Put partisan voices in the same room and most moderators either pick a side or let the session drift into headlines. The discipline of holding that room, pressing each speaker on substance while staying neutral, is what Graham-Yooll has built over two decades of broadcast journalism.
She was part of the CNN team that won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, reporting in the earliest days of the Russian invasion. Her career runs across CNN International, CNN en Español, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English. More recently she has produced coverage of the Iran war for the US networks Fox News and News Nation, and royal coverage with the Associated Press’s AP 360. Reporting for outlets at opposite ends of the political spectrum is itself the credential. It is why she can chair a divided room without being read as partisan.
Away from live coverage, she founded HGY Media Ltd, a London production and consultancy firm working on documentary projects and purpose-driven campaigns on human rights, conflict communication, and freedom of expression. Her earlier advisory work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, on communications around agribusiness and food security, gives her technical footing on the sustainability and supply-chain questions that increasingly sit inside the geopolitical brief.
She also speaks on the working conditions inside modern newsrooms, from the mental health toll of conflict coverage to the case for neurodiversity in editorial teams. For media, culture, and people programmes that want substance over presenter polish, that track is the draw.
Key speaking topics
- Geopolitics and conflict reporting
- Editorial impartiality across the political spectrum
- Press freedom and ethical storytelling
- Editorial leadership and narrative strategy
- Neurodiversity in the newsroom
- Mental health in journalism
- The geopolitics of food security
Ideal for
- Conference organisers seeking a panel chair for geopolitics, defence policy, or Ukraine and Middle East programmes
- Boards and policy forums that need a neutral chair for politically divided or high-stakes sessions
- Corporate communications and policy forums on press freedom, disinformation, and crisis communications
- Media, HR, and culture programmes on newsroom mental health and neurodiversity
Audience outcomes
- A panel that stays editorially controlled, on record, and on time, with each speaker challenged on substance
- Geopolitical context on Ukraine, the Middle East, and the wider European security picture from a journalist with frontline reporting credit
- A read on how the same story is framed differently across the political spectrum, from US partisan media to international broadcasters
- A direct view of what ethical storytelling and press freedom mean for organisations operating in politically volatile markets
- The practical case for neurodiversity and mental health support in high-pressure editorial and communications teams