We are delighted to announce that Matt Stevens is heading to Los Angeles to cover one of the world’s great culture capitals in all of its aspects.
Matt — a mainstay of the Culture desk who has written about art crimes, Taylor Swift, film tax credits, a bizarre scheme to sell Elvis’s home and the investigation into the death of Matthew Perry — will cover breaking culture news and enterprise.
“Matt’s versatility, enthusiasm, curiosity and doggedness in chasing a story will be enormous assets when he becomes our correspondent in Los Angeles,” said Sia Michel, Culture editor at The Times. “He’s the kind of reporter who comes through with a crucial police source at 1 a.m., cool and calm.”
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Matt, who grew up in San Diego and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. He started his journalism career at The Los Angeles Times before coming in 2017 to The New York Times, where he has covered breaking news, politics and culture.
“Matt has landed more than a few scoops emanating from Los Angeles from some 2,500 miles away in New York, so we’re extremely excited to see what happens when he is based there,” said Michael Cooper, the deputy Culture editor for news. “I can’t wait to read his dispatches from a city that is home to a rapidly evolving Hollywood, a vibrant art and music scene that has drawn worldwide acclaim, and a courthouse that seems to attract more than its share of bold-faced names.”
Matt will start his new role on Jan. 2.
