Justin Ray Digital Journalist, Social Media Specialist

Los Angeles Times • 3rd February 2023

MTV launched a reality show set in WeHo. Even WeHo was not impressed

Last Friday, as Trunks in West Hollywood hosted its weekly “RuPaul’s Drag Race” viewing party, laughter, chatter and excitement filled the air — just as it must have at bars up and down Santa Monica Boulevard as the reality competition’s drag...

San Francisco Chronicle • 6th January 2023

Kevin McCarthy is no Nancy Pelosi

California Republican Kevin McCarthy’s attempts to secure the U.S. House speakership this week make one thing clear: He’s no Nancy Pelosi. Say what you want about the former speaker, but nobody can say Pelosi was a flip-flopper. Throughout her...

San Francisco Chronicle • 4th October 2022

No, there’s no tech hack around discrimination

Would you pay someone to break your legs? Many guys are reportedly doing just that. Leg lengthening is a procedure that entails breaking both femurs in order to insert adjustable metal nails in the center of the bones. It costs $75,000 and can give a...

Grid News • 4th August 2022

Alex Jones: 4 moments that shaped the ‘multiplatform prophet of paranoia’

Alex Jones' penchant for misinformation that brought him mainstream recognition. It is also at the very center of the Sandy Hook defamation trial. He is being sued for defamation by the parents of a 6-year-old who was killed in the 2012 attack after...

Los Angeles Times • 31st May 2022

California has billions. Why is homelessness still a problem?

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his latest record spending proposal for the coming fiscal year. About half of the surplus is required by law to be allocated for education. But that still leaves about $49 billion on the table. The governor’s budget proposal...

Los Angeles Times • 21st December 2021

Male birth control: Why reproductive autonomy matters

The most advanced progress in male contraception is on the hormonal front, Dr. Brian Nguyen, an Ob-Gyn and assistant professor with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, tells The Times. He is on a team conducting...

4th October 2018

Lady Gaga Social Media

Lady Gaga gives the reality check some need in this pandemic. The singer told Jimmy Fallon that the phrase “we’re all in this together” being used amid the pandemic isn’t always accurate.

Columbia Journalism Review • 12th March 2018

Profile of Vox Reporter Carlos Maza

"People now just recognize me as the guy who did the Kellyanne Conway video….Not what I thought my moniker would be, but I happily embrace it,” Maza says. “People ask me how I stomached watching so many Conway interviews, at which point I just stare...

Columbia Journalism Review • 17th August 2017

Photographer behind graphic Charlottesville image recounts near-death experience

Ryan Kelly went to downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12 for one last assignment before leaving his staff photographer job at The Daily Progress. On that final workday, the 30-year-old captured an image that The Washington Post declared as...

22nd May 2017

Manchester Attack Breaking News Story for Refinery29

At least 19 people were killed and 50 others were injured after following reports of an explosion at a concert featuring singer Ariana Grande in northern England, law enforcement officials said. Emergency crews arrived at the scene after the blasts,...

Columbia Journalism Review • 17th May 2017

Q&A: DeRay Mckesson on Pod Save the People, Snowden interview

DeRay Mckesson is one of the most high-profile figures of the Black Lives Matter movement. The 31-year-old is an activist, organizer, and media figure whose most recent project quickly rocketed to the top of the iTunes podcast charts. "Our...