Johnny Harris (journalist)

American filmmaker, journalist, YouTuber (born 1988)

Johnny Harris

Personal information
Born|  (1988-05-28) May 28, 1988 (age 35)

Utah, U.S.

Education|

* Brigham Young University
* American University

Occupations|

* Filmmaker
* journalist
* YouTuber

Spouse| Isabel Harris
Children| 2
Website| johnnyharris.ch
YouTube information
Channel|

* Johnny Harris

Years active| 2011–present
Genres|

* International affairs
* history
* geography

Subscribers| 4.02 million[1]
Total views| 364 million[1]

Creator Awards

| 100,000 subscribers| 2019
| 1,000,000 subscribers| 2021

* * *

Last updated: June 23, 2023

Johnny Harris (born May 28, 1988[‡ 1][‡ 2]) is an American filmmaker, journalist, and YouTuber, currently based in Washington, D.C.[2] Harris produced and hosted the Borders series for American news and opinion website Vox.[3][4][5][6][7][8] He also created three videos for The New York Times.[9][10][11] Harris launched the company Bright Trip in 2019, which offers video-based travel courses.[12]

## Early life and education[edit]

Harris was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a small town in Oregon.[‡ 3] He graduated from Ashland High School, in Ashland, Oregon.[‡ 4] He served a two-year mission in Tijuana, Mexico, but has since left the church.[‡ 5]

Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Affairs from Brigham Young University (2013) and a Master of Arts in international peace and conflict resolution from American University (2016).[‡ 6][2]

## Career[edit]

### Borders[edit]

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.[13] It was twice nominated for an Emmy Award.[14] The series was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd protests, and budgeting considerations.[‡ 7][15]

### YouTube[edit]

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.[‡ 8]

He has partnered with The New York Times [‡ 9][9] as well as the World Economic Forum in producing videos.[16]

As of December 17, 2023,[update] Harris has 4.72 million YouTube subscribers.[‡ 10] Some of his notable videos tackle topics such as wars, foreign relations, the metric system, and the history of colonization in the United States, Western Asia, North Korea, and the Pacific islands.

### Freelance[edit]

On November 9, 2021, Harris was credited as the video producer on an opinion piece published to The New York Times, titled "Blue States, You're the Problem".[10] It later won an Emmy Award.[17]

## Borders series[edit]

Season  | Episodes  | Originally aired  | Location(s)

|
|
|

First aired  | Last aired  | Producer
1  | 6  | May 22, 2017  | October 14, 2017  | Vox Media Inc. | Various
2  | 5  | July 11, 2018  | August 15, 2018  | Hong Kong
3  | 5  | November 22, 2018  | December 18, 2018  | Colombia
4  | 5  | June 26, 2019  | July 24, 2019  | India
5  | Release cancelled  | United States

## Personal life[edit]

Harris is married to Isabel "Izzy" Harris, with whom he has two sons, Oliver and Henry.[‡ 11]

Harris is diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.[‡ 12]

His father-in-law is the captain of a ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).[‡ 13]

## References[edit]

### Citations[edit]

1. ^ a b "About Johnny Harris". YouTube.
2. ^ a b "Johnny Harris". Vox. Archived from the original on July 12, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
3. ^ Schmidt, Christine (August 27, 2018). "Explanatory video + engagement = How Vox's Borders series is humanizing the map and building local source networks". Nieman Lab. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
4. ^ Scott, Caroline (August 30, 2017). "Why Vox has been crowdsourcing for its latest international documentary series". journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
5. ^ Scott, Caroline (August 23, 2018). "How Vox expanded its network by crowdsourcing for its latest documentary series". journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
6. ^ Llewellyn, Tom (September 15, 2020). "Vox Borders cancelled: Why has the popular documentary series been axed?". Reality Titbit. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
7. ^ Schochet, Max (March 11, 2020). "Behind the scenes of the Vox web series "Borders"". Storybench. Northeastern University School of Journalism. Archived from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
8. ^ "Alumnus Spotlight: Johnny Harris". BYU Political Science Blog. Brigham Young University. March 9, 2016. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
9. ^ a b How America Bungled the Plague | NYT Opinion, archived from the original on September 5, 2023, retrieved May 21, 2021
10. ^ a b Harris, Johnny; Appelbaum, Binyamin (November 9, 2021). "Opinion | Blue States, You're the Problem". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
11. ^ Harris, Johnny; Cottle, Michelle (September 21, 2022). "Opinion | Inside the Completely Legal G.O.P. Plot to Destroy American Democracy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
12. ^ "Bright Trip Inc. Launches Travel Industry's First Video-Based Travel Courses". PRWeb. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
13. ^ "Borders". Vox. December 5, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
14. ^ "Vox Earns 3 News and Documentary Emmy Award Nominations". Vox Media. July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
15. ^ "Vox Borders cancelled: Why has the popular documentary series been axed?". Reality Titbit. September 15, 2020. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
16. ^ "How China Became So Powerful". www.youtube.com. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
17. ^ "The New York Times Wins 5 Emmy Awards". The New York Times Company. September 30, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.

###  Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

1. ^ Why Britain is the Center of the World, retrieved June 2, 2022 At the time 10:14 he reveals the date of his birth
2. ^ "#69: Johnny Harris – Himalayan Borders, Making Maps, Traveling with Purpose", Finding Founders, retrieved April 28, 2021
3. ^ Why New York City is so Huge, archived from the original on March 18, 2022, retrieved April 28, 2021
4. ^ Am I Happy?: Q&A, archived from the original on March 18, 2022, retrieved June 12, 2021
5. ^ Why I Left The Mormon Church. YouTube. June 11, 2021.
6. ^ Johnny, Harris. "Johnny Harris". LinkedIn. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
7. ^ Harris, Johnny (September 14, 2020). Vox Borders is Canceled - via YouTube.
8. ^ "Johnny Harris – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
9. ^ I Made a Video with The New York Times, archived from the original on March 18, 2022, retrieved May 21, 2021
10. ^ "Johnny Harris YouTube Page". YouTube. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
11. ^ Who Are We?!. YouTube. February 4, 2018.
12. ^ Harris, Johnny (January 13, 2019), Johnny Harris — Should You Go to College?, 7:10 min, retrieved January 23, 2023, "[...] I'm diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD."
13. ^ Harris, Johnny (January 18, 2023), Johnny Harris — Our Best Military Weapon is… Invisible?, 25:13 min, retrieved January 23, 2023, "[...] my father-in-law is actually the captain of a submarine, one of the SSBNs."

## External links[edit]

* Official website