Brandon Gates is a journalist, screenwriter, and media strategist whose work spans newsrooms, government communications, and independent film and audio production. He is the founder and creative director of Iron Gates Media, producing narrative-driven podcasts and short-form video.
As a freelance journalist, he has reported for outlets including NPR, The Emancipator, Thrillist, and Investigation Discovery. He started his career as an on-air general assignment reporter for WFXG in Augusta, Georgia, and has worked as a regional social editor for Courier and an associate editorial director at Axios.
Gates holds an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of South Carolina. He is a 2024 AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) New Voices Scholar and a two-time UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade) Diversity Scholar.
He currently teaches journalism and media studies at Hunter College and joins the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY as an adjunct professor for the fall 2026 semester.