Jacob Hirsch Soboroff (born 1983) is an American journalist. He is known as a correspondent for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. Prior to his debut on the network in September 2015, he was the host of ''YouTube Nation'' and a co-host of '' TakePart Live'' on Pivot TV. He was also a founding host and producer of '' HuffPost Live'', the live streaming network of ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'', and Soboroff also serves as a weekday & weekend fill-in & substitute anchor for Today & NBC Nightly News.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California, Soboroff is the eldest child of Patti and

Steve Soboroff Steve Soboroff (born August 31, 1948) is an American businessperson who was Los Angeles Police Commissioner from 2013 to 2023, where he spearheaded the use of body cams for the LAPD. Days after the catastrophic Palisades fire began in Los Ange ...

, a real estate developer and philanthropist and former member of the

Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, also commonly known as the Los Angeles Police Commission, is a five-member body of civilian-only, appointed officials which oversees the Los Angeles Police Department. Organization The board is made ...

. He is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent. Soboroff attended

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

, and later received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in politics in 2005 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in political theory and philosophy in 2006, both from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Career

In college, Soboroff was an aide to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

. Soboroff was a contributor to

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's 2012 presidential election coverage, for which he discussed America's young voters with presidential candidate

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

. As the founding correspondent for AMC News, Soboroff interviewed actors and filmmakers. Soboroff co-hosted NBC's proactive school makeover show School Pride. He has contributed reporting to

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's Weekend Edition, and the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''

Wired Science ''Wired Science'' was a weekly television program that covered modern scientific and technological topics. In January 2007 PBS aired pilot episodes for three different science programs, including ''Wired Science''. Using Nielsen ratings, CPB-sp ...

''. Between January and December 2014, Soboroff hosted ''YouTube Nation'', a pop-culture oriented news show on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. As a correspondent for

, Soboroff specializes in border issues, making him one of the first reporters to call public attention to the

Trump administration family separation policy The family separation policy under the First presidency of Donald Trump, first Trump administration was a controversial immigration enforcement strategy implemented in the United States from 2017 to 2018, aimed at Immigration policy of the f ...

, whereby children were separated from parents who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without proper documentation. He was one of ten journalists invited by authorities to tour Casa Padre, a facility in Texas housing 1500 boys ages 10 to 17. He described it as "shocking... an old Walmart which has essentially been turned into a child prison." His book on the subject, titled ''Separated: Inside an American Tragedy'', was published on July 7, 2020. In late 2024, Soboroff was named one of America's 10 best TV news journalists by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. The organization, purveyors of the

Dorian Awards The Dorian Awards are general and LGBTQ-themed accolades for excellence in film, television and Broadway / Off-Broadway, as voted by the members of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. GALECA is an association of professional jour ...

to mainstream and LGBTQ-themed content, praised Soboroff for "his determined exposés on the U.S.-Mexico border crisis and the ongoing plight of immigrants." In January 2025, Soboroff did extensive and highly personal reporting for NBC on the destruction of his childhood neighborhood in Pacific Palisades that was all but destroyed by a terrible wildfire that hit large swaths of the LA basin. He also posted on Instagram.

Personal life

Soboroff resides in Los Angeles. He married fashion executive Nicole Cari in 2012. He has two children. Soboroff is an executive director of the nonpartisan organization Why Tuesday? It seeks to make "America's democracy stronger through increased voter participation".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soboroff, Jacob American television journalists MSNBC people NBC News people HuffPost writers and columnists Jewish American journalists Journalists from Los Angeles New York University alumni Living people 1983 births