Laura Wagner

New York

Media Reporter

Education: Georgetown University, BA in government

Laura Wagner is a reporter at The Washington Post covering the changing digital media industry. She previously worked at Defector, where she wrote about media, sports and labor. Before that, she covered media and business at Vice. She has also written for Slate and NPR, and her work has been published by Columbia Journalism Review. She lives in New York.
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Latest from Laura Wagner

Sarah Palin wins bid for new defamation trial against New York Times

Sarah Palin will get a new trial in her defamation suit against the New York Times and former opinion editor James Bennet, an appeals court ruled.

August 28, 2024
Sarah Palin attends the Conservative Political Action Conference in Fort Washington, Md., in March 2023.

A reporter detailed a tennis star’s alleged abuse. Now he’s paying for it.

Ben Rothenberg was considered one of the nation’s best tennis writers. Then he got sued by Alexander Zverev, one of the world’s top tennis players.

August 27, 2024
Rothenberg was “determined to tell stories that hadn’t been told, things about the sport that publications wouldn’t normally [cover],” a colleague said.

‘A magazine made by humans’: Atlantic writers push back on AI

Writers for the Atlantic are raising complaints about a deal with OpenAI and say staffers “must have a voice” in how artificial intelligence affects their work.

August 2, 2024
A rack of magazines, including the Atlantic, on display in a bookstore in San Francisco.

How a school district took its spat with a local TV station to the FCC

A Loudoun County official claims WJLA’s reporting shows a ‘dishonest’ slant. Station owner Sinclair calls it an attempt to ‘shut down critical news coverage.’

July 30, 2024
Park View High School in Sterling, Va., is the subject of one of the news stories that inspired an FCC complaint from the Loudoun County school system. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)

Hulk Hogan rips off his shirt, endorses Trump at the RNC

Hulk Hogan waved the American flag during his 1980s pro wrestling heyday. But his biggest political role came in the landmark lawsuit that bankrupted Gawker.

July 19, 2024

A lifelong media maven grapples with the misinformation crisis

In his new book, Steven Brill points to a flood of bad information as the culprit behind the rise of polarization.

June 30, 2024

Baltimore Sun republishes reports from new owner’s TV station

The union for the Baltimore Sun complained that it is republishing flawed articles from Sinclair TV stations controlled by its new owner.

June 11, 2024
The front page of the Baltimore Sun after it was purchased in January by David D. Smith.

New Post editors Matt Murray, Robert Winnett praised for tough journalism

Both have decades of experience overseeing ambitious, aggressive journalism.

June 3, 2024
Matt Murray speaks to staff at the The Washington Post after being named to a new top editorial role with the company.

New York Times made ‘petty’ cuts to staff bios, union says

The New York Times rolled out expanded bio pages but then deleted language in which staffers extolled their union work. Guild leaders called the move petty.

May 31, 2024
Guild members protest outside the New York Times headquarters in New York in September after the closing of the newspaper's sports desk.

The media bosses fighting back against AI — and the ones cutting deals

As OpenAI and other tech firms make advances, the media industry is split between pushing back and making deals.

May 27, 2024
Barry Diller in New York in April 2023.