Hi, I’m Jonah Valdez, a journalist and poet based in Los Angeles. I’m currently a staff reporter for The Intercept, covering politics, Israel and Palestine, U.S. foreign policy, campus protests, social movements and human rights issues.
I previously worked at the L.A. Times covering pop culture and the Hollywood industry. I joined The Times as a member of the 2021 Los Angeles Times Fellowship program. During the fellowship, I wrote feature stories about issues of environmental justice, gentrification, transportation and labor.
You can find my work here.
Previously, I’ve also written for the Southern California News Group and covered breaking news, disasters and the criminal justice system for SCNG’s 11 newspapers across LA, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. My feature writing won an O.C. Press Club Award and was a finalist for California News Publishers Assoc. awards.
I got my start in news interning at my hometown paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune. Around that time, I also edited my campus newspaper, the Criterion at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif.
My reporting has also appeared in Voice of San Diego and the San Diego Reader. I’ve also been a radio guest where I discussed my work on shows such as KCRW’s Greater LA, KPCC’s AirTalk, KGO with Nikki Medoro, and KPBS’ Midday Edition.
