Michael Wilner is named Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau chief

The following announcement is sent on behalf of Executive Editor Terry Tang, Managing Editor Hector Becerra, Editor at Large Scott Kraft and Assistant Managing Editor Steve Clow:

We’re delighted to announce that Michael Wilner is joining the Los Angeles Times as its Washington Bureau chief.

Wilner has spent more than 12 years covering Washington, D.C. He joins The Times from McClatchy, where he was chief Washington correspondent through the 2024 presidential election for the organization’s 30 newsrooms, including the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star and Sacramento Bee.

He previously reported on national security and the White House for McClatchy, leading its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the Biden administration.

Before that he served as Washington bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post, covering U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East during the Obama era and reporting from the field on the 2014 Gaza War, the Syrian refugee crisis and the Iran nuclear talks.

Wilner will take the lead as both a reporter and editor in guiding The Times’ coverage of the second Trump administration, working with other members of the Washington Bureau as well as colleagues around the newsroom.

In 2022, Wilner and a team of Miami Herald reporters received the Kim Wall Award for Creative International Storytelling from the Overseas Press Club. Their work, covering the assassination of Haiti’s president, also earned a National Headliner Award and an Online Journalism Award.

Wilner is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Columbia University. A native of New York City, he is an avid traveler and enjoys cooking when he’s off duty.

He joins The Times on Feb. 18.