Journalism & Impact
Amir Vera is an award-winning journalist with bylines in national and local news organizations, publishing stories that have attracted millions of readers to multiple outlets across platforms for more than a decade.
As a local editor for this nonprofit start-up, Vera leads coverage for Inglewood and South LA where he built his team and audience from the ground up.
Vera wears multiple hats across the organization to include:
Section Editor: Vera leads, assigns and coordinates coverage for the communities of Inglewood and South LA. He also manages a team of reporters editing for accuracy, clarity and fairness.
Social Media/Video Editor: Vera creates, assigns and edits written and visual content (photos, graphic design and video) for the Inglewood and South LA's Instagram while also developing the voice of the beat through interactive content. Under his leadership, the account grew from 0 to more than 7,000 followers in less than a year.
Newsletter editor/designer: Vera creates and designs a weekly South LA and Inglewood newsletter for the more than 5,000 subscribers that serves as an essential vehicle of information for two communities that have been left uncovered in the Los Angeles media landscape.
Homepage editor: Vera strategically programs stories on the Inglewood/South LA homepage for maximum exposure and readership.
Manager: Vera supervises, guides and supports the professional development of two reporters, a social producer, an intern and a California Local News fellow.
Vera began his career at CNN as an Associate Writer in 2018. Working for the network’s weekend national desk, Vera wrote numerous trending and breaking news stories.
Vera's most impactful stories include:
Kobe Bryant's death: Vera served as the lead writer for Kobe Bryant’s death on CNN’s live news story.
Slavery in the U.S.: Vera wrote a historical piece about how deep slavery is engrained in U.S. institutions in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the reckoning across the country.
Selective Service: Vera wrote a contextual and historical piece about the Selective Service after noticing its website crashed because of the "spread of misinformation" following the announcement that the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, was killed by a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump.
Using social media as a reporting tool: Vera pitched, reported and wrote numerous pieces on the Verzuz battles on Instagram Live during the pandemic, including Babyface vs. Teddy Riley (Part I and Part II), Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott, Nelly vs. Ludacris and Gucci Mane vs. Jeezy.
Vera was promoted to Writer in 2020, and became essential to the network’s PM operation working not just on breaking news, but contextualizing such news events through explainers, side bars and enterprise pieces. It was here that Vera was part of a CNN digital feature on race that won an NABJ Salute to Excellence Award, one of the highest achievements in the organization.
Vera's most impactful stories include:
Technology and activism: Vera analyzed and examined the evolution of technology and activism in the decade since Trayvon Martin’s death. This story was told through the lens of an activist who came of age after the 17-year-old’s death.
Gun violence: Vera traveled to Buffalo, New York, in the days following the mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets grocery store to chronicle and elevate the voices of a Black community that felt neglected and isolated prior to the tragedy.
Patriot explainer: Vera examined the word "patriot" and how the word changed in the context of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Police oversight: Vera investigated the National Decertification Index, a police misconduct database run by a nonprofit whose mission is to stop problematic officers from hopping between departments.
Vera made the switch from reporting to editing in 2023, becoming a Breaking News Editor for the CNN Live News Team handling real-time updates on stories as they were unfolding. Working as a PM editor, he directed coverage of the day’s biggest national stories, coordinating coverage with teams in Hong Kong and London to ensure the network’s Live Story product delivered the most up-to-date news to an audience of millions. Additionally, Vera helped mentor and guide writers, trained staff on the product and interpreted analytics and audience data to inform future live stories.
Vera led coverage on the following stories:
Government shutdown: Vera was the lead editor when the U.S. government shut down in October 2025 and was tasked with alerting the entire network once the clock struck midnight ET and the government officially shut down — allowing CNN to be one of the first organizations to report the news.
Diddy's sentencing: During Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sentencing, Vera worked with a team of editors to gather, edit, publish and alert feeds to the network that were aired live on television and digital platforms for millioins.
Tsunamis in the Pacific: Vera worked in tandem with the Hong Kong team in covering the late summer 2025 tsunami in the Pacific as advisories, warnings and watches spread across the globe, allowing the network to deliver life-saving news to the millions of people affected by this weather event.
The Virginian-Pilot
In 2016, Vera became the Online and Breaking News Reporter for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. In his first year, he served as the night crime reporter and weekend features reporter covering five localities that make up the southern Hampton Roads region. The second year at the Pilot saw him joining the paper’s digital enterprise team doing in-depth features, investigative stories and alternative content for first-person stories. Vera won a Virginia Press Association Award for Education Writing during his time at the Pilot.
Vera's most impactful stories include:
Rescue dogs investigation: Vera investigated the pipeline of rescue dogs being shipped throughout the U.S. and how those dogs’ histories are hidden from the owners who adopt them.
HBCU housing investigation: Vera investigated the lack of housing at Norfolk State University and how students were placed at a hotel in another city while paying on-campus fees.
Narrative stories: Vera wrote feature-length narrative and digitally-focused stories for the paper’s millennial section, known at the time as "TBD."
The Progress-Index
Vera officially began his journalism career in 2014 as a staff writer at The Progress-Index in Petersburg, Virginia, where he was one of three reporters covering everything in two localities. He initially covered Prince George and Dinwiddie counties, then later transitioned to the hometown beat of the city of Petersburg and Prince George. It was here he won a Virginia Press Association Award for Environmental Writing.
Vera's most impactful stories include:
The battle for public information: Vera investigated how well the Tri-Cities’ (Petersburg and five other localities) government, school and law enforcement adhered to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws. It was a months-long project with the help of two other reporters.
Prince George County superintendent saga: Vera reported on the ongoing drama behind Prince George County's superintendent hiring a finance director with a criminal record and not telling the school board. From a finance director filing a lawsuit, to the superintendent taking leave and ultimately resigning, this story took up much of the 2014-15 school year.
Confederate Flag Run: Vera covered the large procession of Confederate enthusiasts marching through the Tri-Cities area in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, which reignited the national conversation about the Confederate flag.
Contamination of creek: Vera covered the contamination of Stony Creek in Dinwiddie County.