Former Atlanta TV Journalist Spent 40 Years Covering News
Published: October 3, 2022
You can take the newsman out of the newsroom, but you can't take the news out of the newsman. This is Paul Yates.
And on a sunny afternoon in Valdosta, Georgia, he enjoys watching his grandkids Collin, 4, and Blair, 1, play during a visit with his son, Reid. In between conversations, you can catch him keeping a pulse on the daily news from a feed on his phone.
"I still like to keep up with what's going on outside of my little world, too," he said with a smile.
He entered the field of journalism at the time of hard-hitting investigative reporting surrounding Watergate. The work of Woodward and Bernstein, along with a childhood fascination with the nightly news, drew Paul into the world of broadcasting.
"Other kids would go out to play baseball. I would be glued to the tube watching the Democratic National Convention," he chuckled. "My parents must've wondered, ‘What's wrong with that boy?'"
He started where he could get his foot in the door as a floor director - "a glorified stagehand," he called it - at WAGA Channel 5 in Atlanta, Georgia. Working his way up, he cut film for the day's broadcasts and eventually found himself in front of the camera reporting the news.
"Through the Grace of God and good fortune, they let me try it and it worked out," he said.
Reporting on everything from car crashes to Presidential visits with Carter through Obama, Paul found his niche in political reporting. He spent 40 years at Channel 5 covering the Georgia legislature, having the ear of long-time Governor and personal political hero, Zell Miller, on a regular basis.
"He was a political genius and could work the media like no one's business," he recalled.
Paul noted Miller's institution of the Hope Scholarship in Georgia as a story he was particularly proud of reporting because of the good it did for so many young students in the state, including his two children.
His son Reid recalls childhood buddies being impressed his dad was on tv, but says it didn't seem like a big deal to him at the time.
"I'd watch him on the five o'clock news and knew he'd be home soon," he said, recalling the day-to-day routine. "When he got home, he was just normal. He was Daddy."
Despite his breadth of experience, Paul puts his professional life in a humble perspective.
"I had a satisfying high-profile career in the public realm, but the most important thing is to show up for work every day and do your work with pride, honesty and integrity. Hopefully, you make a little difference in some lives."
Paul speaks with great admiration for the work he sees daily at
The Canopy at Azalea Grove where he calls home.
"The caring and concern I have seen on the part of these folks has been remarkable," he said. "I'm grateful for what they do. They're my new heroes."
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