The Los Angeles Times and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas will partner for a multimedia series on the cross-section of race, immigration, and identity, the newspaper announced Tuesday.
As part of #EmergingUS, Vargas will write commentary and produce videos about the “evolving American identity in the 21stcentury,” according to the Times. The series will mostly reside on the web, but could appear in the paper.
Vargas, a Filipino citizen living in the U.S. since age 12, has worked for the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Daily News, Huffington Post, New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and more. In 2011, his national profile rose by outing himself in a New York Times piece, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.”
Since then, he’s been a fierce advocate for immigration reform. In 2014, CNN spotlighted the journalist in the documentary, “Undocumented.”
“Los Angeles is the most diverse big city in our country, America’s window to Asia and Latin America. Los Angeles is where America comes to see its future, and part of that future will be built on a better understanding of how diversity plays a role in our lives,” said Times Publisher and CEO Austin Beutner. “Jose is uniquely suited to look at the issues and find and tell stories that will inform all of us.”
“I cannot think of a better partner than the Los Angeles Times,” said Vargas, founder and executive editor of #EmergingUS. “In a diversifying America in the age of social media and new technologies, when different stories and narratives must be told, I cannot think of a better time to start this exciting new venture.”