Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas (born February 3, 1981) is a Filipino journalist and documentary filmmaker working in the United States. He is known for his coverage of HIV, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the influence that politics and the Internet have on each other. In 2008 he was part of a team which won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. Raised in the United States from the age of 12, Vargas has worked for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Daily News, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post.

In June 2011, Vargas admitted to being an illegal immigrant in the US since the age of 12 in a New York Times Magazine essay. In the essay, Vargas' describes coming to the US as a child, unaware until the age of 16 that his immigration status was not valid. Vargas presents documentation: a fake green card, a fake passport, and driver’s license used to help him remain in the US.

Early life

Vargas was born in Antipolo, the Philippines. In 1993, when Vargas was 12, his mother sent him to live with his grandparents in the United States without obtaining authorization for him to stay in the country permanently. He grew up in Mountain View, California, and attended Crittenden Middle School and Mountain View High School. Vargas did not learn that he was an undocumented immigrant until 1997, when he attempted to obtain a California driver's license with fraudulent identity documents provided by his family. In 1998 he began an internship at the Mountain View Voice, a local newspaper, and he later became a “copy boy” for the San Francisco Chronicle. Vargas attended San Francisco State University, gaining a degree in Political Science and Black Studies. He interned for the Philadelphia Daily News and later The Washington Post, who hired him in 2004, immediately after his college graduation.

Work for The Washington Post

Vargas was hired by The Washington Post’s Style section to cover the video-game boom. He became known for his anecdotal coverage of the HIV epidemic in Washington, despite the fact he had no medical science education nor any expertise in retrovirology or epidemiology. His coverage of this issue was adapted into a documentary called The Other City, released in 2010. In 2007, he was part of the Washington Post team covering the Virginia Tech shootings, earning a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. He also covered politics for the Post.

When Vargas made a pitch for himself as a politics reporter for the Post, the Washingtonian reported that he told his editor, “You need someone to cover the presidential campaign who has a Facebook account and who looks at YouTube every day.” Vargas went on to cover the 2008 presidential campaign. He wrote an online column called “The Clickocracy” on the Post’s website.

Work for The Huffington Post

In July 2009, Vargas left the Post to join The Huffington Post, part of an exodus of young talent from the paper. Arianna Huffington introduced herself to Vargas at a Washington Press Club Foundation dinner after overhearing someone mistake him for a busboy. Vargas joined Huffington Post as Technology and Innovations Editor where he created a "Technology as Anthropology" blog and launched the Technology vertical in September 2009 and the College vertical in February 2010.

Pulitzer Prize

Vargas authored or contributed to three of the articles about the Virginia Tech shootings that were awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Vargas contributed to the article “‘Pop, Pop, Pop’: Students Down, Doors Barred, Leaps to Safety,” which was published on April 17, 2007. Through interviews with eye witnesses, the story recounts the events of the Virginia Tech shootings.

In “Students Make Connections at a Time of Total Disconnect,” also from April 17, 2007, Vargas reported on the role of technology in students’ experiences during the Virginia Tech shootings. He described graduate student Jamal Albarghouti running towards the gun shots when he heard them, taking out his cell phone to take a shaky, one minute video that would later air on CNN.com. “This is what this YouTube-Facebook-instant messaging generation does,” Vargas wrote. “Witness. Record. Share.” The article also discussed the role of Facebook.com, which students used to keep in touch during the event. Albarghouti returned to his apartment to find 279 new Facebook messages, Vargas recounted, and another student, Trey Perkins, faced a similar inundation.

Vargas also contributed to the article “That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under,” which ran in the Washington Post on April 19, 2007. Vargas was able to gain an interview with an eyewitness by approaching him through Facebook, he explained to GMA News. “I got him on the phone, we talked for about 25 minutes, and he was the only eyewitness we had on the story, so it was a critical part of it," Vargas explained.

Other journalism

In September 2010, Vargas profiled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in an article for The New Yorker.

The Other City documentary

Vargas's articles on the AIDS epidemic in the nation's capital inspired a feature-length documentary, The Other City, which he co-produced and wrote. Directed by Susan Koch and co-produced by Sheila Johnson, it premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on Showtime.