# Johnny Harris (journalist)

Johnny Harris (born May 28, 1988) is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, and independent journalist based in Washington, D.C. Harris produced and hosted the Borders series for American news and opinion website Vox. He also created three videos for The New York Times. Harris launched the company Bright Trip in 2019, which has video-based travel courses.

## Early life and education

Harris was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a small town in Oregon. He graduated from Ashland High School, in Ashland, Oregon. He served a two-year mission in Tijuana, Mexico and identified as a devout Mormon but has since left the church after the birth of his first son. Harris' great-great-great-grandparents, Robert Harris and Hannah Eagles, originally came from Wales, where they were converted by a Mormon missionary. The couple and their children were sponsored by Mormons in Salt Lake City to "build Zion" and settled north of Salt Lake City. Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts in international relations and affairs at Brigham Young University (2013) and a Master of Arts in international peace and conflict resolution at American University (2016).

## Career
### Borders

From 2017 to 2019, Harris produced and hosted Borders, a documentary short film series on Vox that profiled sociopolitical issues in various border regions worldwide. It was twice nominated for an Emmy Award. The series was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd protests, and budgeting considerations.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Originally aired | Originally aired | Location(s) |
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | Producer | Location(s) |
| 1 | 6 | May 22, 2017 | October 14, 2017 | Vox Media Inc. | Various |
| 2 | 5 | July 11, 2018 | August 15, 2018 | Vox Media Inc. | Hong Kong |
| 3 | 5 | November 22, 2018 | December 18, 2018 | Vox Media Inc. | Colombia |
| 4 | 5 | June 26, 2019 | July 24, 2019 | Vox Media Inc. | India |
| 5 | Release cancelled | Release cancelled | Release cancelled | Vox Media Inc. | United States |

### YouTube

Harris's YouTube channel was set up in June 2011. Since the cancellation of Borders, Harris has continued to produce videos on international affairs, history, and geography with creative visual graphics, which he has published on his own channel. He has partnered with The New York Times, as well as the World Economic Forum in producing videos. Some of his notable videos tackle topics such as wars, foreign relations, the metric system, West Asia, North Korea, and the Pacific islands, and the history of colonization in the United States. Harris also covers economics in some of his videos. As of November 29, 2024, Harris has 6.07 million YouTube subscribers.

### Newpress

Newpress is a collective of freelance journalists founded by Harris. Three journalists are part of Newpress, which aims to fill a gap in the media landscape.. It describes itself as an "association of independent journalists who are credible, serious and courageous, focusing on the context, history and background of the events that shape our world".
Newpress :
| Journalist | Channel |
| Johnny Harris | Johnny Harris |
| Sam Ellis | SearchParty |
| Christophe Haubursin | tunnel_vision |

### Freelance

On November 9, 2021, Harris was credited as the video producer on an opinion piece published in The New York Times, titled "Blue States, You're the Problem". It later won an Emmy Award.

### CSIS.org

In his YouTube piece entitled "How to Start a War With a Flash Drive", published on February 14, 2024, Harris communicated that he used to work at the think tank called Center for Strategic and International Studies. He indicated that he had spent two years there during a previous interview.

## Personal life

Harris is married to Isabel "Izzy" Harris, with whom he has two sons. Harris is diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.