The Young Turks

The Young Turks (TYT) is an online American liberal/progressive political and social commentary program hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian; the show has an associated network of online shows and is owned by a company of the same name (The Young Turks LLC). TYT was founded in 2002 by Uygur as a talkshow on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The Young Turks claims to be "the world's largest online news show"; YouTube video views for the TYT Network stood at a total of 2 billion as of July 2014. The show offers internet-only video content via their YouTube channel, which in April 2012 averaged 750,000 views a day, and by November 2014 over 1,400,000 views a day. The Young Turks also have a network of other affiliated shows on separate YouTube channels, known collectively as the TYT Network.

From 2011 to 2013 a second show, called The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur aired on Current TV. After Current TV was acquired by Al Jazeera America, the TV show was discontinued.

History

The Young Turks as a show began when Cenk Uygur started a talk show similar to a public-access television cable-TV show he had done previously called The Young Turk. With the help of friend Ben Mankiewicz (with whom he had previously worked), his childhood friend Dave Koller, and Jill Pike, he began The Young Turks as a radio show in 2002 on Sirius Satellite Radio. The show's name derives from the English-language phrase "Young Turk", meaning a reformist or rebellious member of an institution, movement, or political party.

Young Turks

The Young Turks (Turkish: Jön Türkler, from French: Les Jeunes Turcs, or Turkish: Genç Türkler) was a political reform movement in the early 20th century, favoring replacement of the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Empire with a constitutional monarchy. Later, their leaders led a rebellion against the absolute rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. With this revolution, the Young Turks helped to establish the Second Constitutional Era in 1908, ushering in an era of multi-party democracy for the first time in the country’s history.

After 1908, the Young Turks’ initial umbrella political party, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP; Turkish: İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti), began a series of modernizing military and political reforms across the Ottoman Empire. However, the CUP soon began to splinter as many of the more liberal and pro-decentralization Young Turks left to form an opposition party in late 1911, the Freedom and Accord Party (also known as the Liberal Union or Liberal Entente), with much of those staying in the CUP favoring a generally nationalist and pro-centralization policy. In a year-long power struggle throughout 1912, Freedom Accord and the remaining members of the CUP vied for control of the Ottoman government, the year seeing a rigged election by the CUP and a military revolt by Freedom and Accord.

Ana Kasparian

Anahit Misak Kasparian (Armenian: Անահիտ Միսաք Գասպարեան, pronounced [ɑnɑˈhid miˈsɑkʰ kʰɑsbɑˈɾjɑn]; born July 7 1986) is an American political pundit and the co-host and producer for the online news show The Young Turks. Kasparian began working as a fill-in producer for The Young Turks in 2007, and is now co-host of the main show and host of The Point on the TYT Network. She also appeared on the TV version of the show that aired on Current TV.

Biography

Born in Los Angeles, California, Kasparian is the daughter of Armenian immigrant parents and was raised in the Reseda community of the San Fernando Valley. Kasparian graduated from Valley Alternative Magnet High School of Van Nuys in 2004 and California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts, Journalism (BAJ).

Kasparian was an assistant producer with CBS Radio news stations in Los Angeles, first with KFWB and then KNX. She has also worked with AOL News, YouTube, TidalTv and On Point. After becoming a fill-in host in April 2007, Kasparian became the producer and co-host with Cenk Uygur of the progressive talk radio on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and internet show/TV show The Young Turks. Kasparian says that young people are interested in news, but "they see network anchors as simply folks who read tele-prompters." She co-hosted TYT University, a show focused on issues faced by university students for some years, and now hosts another TYT Network show, The Point. Kasparian is an agnostic atheist.

Cenk Uygur

Cenk Kadir Uygur (/ˈdʒɛŋk ˈjuːɡər/, Turkish pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛɲc ˈujɡur]; born March 21, 1970) is an American columnist, political commentator and activist. Uygur is the main host and co-founder of the American liberal/progressive political and social internet commentary program, The Young Turks (TYT) and the co-founder of the associated TYT Network. He worked as an attorney in Washington, D.C. and New York before beginning his career as a political commentator. As a young man, Uygur espoused socially conservative views, criticizing feminism, abortion, and affirmative action. He is now a progressive.

In addition to hosting TYT, Uygur appeared on MSNBC as a political commentator in 2010, later hosting a weeknight commentary show on the channel for nearly six months until being replaced by Al Sharpton. Shortly after leaving MSNBC, Uygur secured a show on Current TV that aired from December 5, 2011 to August 15, 2013. Uygur was from 2012 to 2013 the chief news officer of Current TV, succeeding Keith Olbermann following his departure from the cable television network until Current was acquired by Al Jazeera Media Network.

Brett Erlich

Brett Erlich (born March 1, 1982, California) is an American political comedian featured as a writer, producer and host on TV shows and Web sites. He appears as the host of "Pop Trigger" on the The Young Turks. He also appears on ABC News Primetime Specials hosted by Barbara Walters and Katie Couric.

From 2006–2011, Brett was a writer, producer, and host of InfoMania, a comedic news show on the cable station Current TV. He formerly wrote, co-hosted (with Ellen Fox), and co-executive produced The Rotten Tomatoes Show (2009–2010). InfoMania was canceled in the summer of 2011.

From July 1, 2006 to July 9, 2007, Erlich wrote, associate-produced, and co-hosted Google Current.

Early life and education

Born Brett Michaels Erlich in 1982 in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, California, he attended local public schools. He studied at Stanford University, graduating in 2004. While there, he co-founded the Stanford Shakespeare Society. This student-run company is devoted to the production and performance of Shakespearean and Shakespeare-influenced drama.