Staff news: W.J. Hennigan to cover Pentagon; Josh Rottenberg joins Calendar
The Times this week announced two staffing moves: W.J. Hennigan, who has been a Times Business reporter since 2009, is moving to Washington, D.C., to cover the Pentagon. And Josh Rottenberg, a reporter at Entertainment Weekly, is joining the Calendar staff as a senior film reporter. The announcement memos follow.
W.J. Hennigan
W.J. Hennigan, a terrific and award-winning reporter on the L.A. Times Business staff, will be joining the Washington, D.C., bureau this summer as a Pentagon correspondent. Bill joined The Times in 2009 and has spent much of his time focusing on Southern California’s aerospace and defense industries, which will stand him in good stead as he takes on the broader field of covering the U.S. military.
In the last year, Bill has written memorably about budget battles between manned and robotic fighter planes, electronic warfare technology, efforts to repair and resurrect a badly damaged B-2 bomber and a pair of guys who comb through the Mojave desert looking for remains of long-lost military aircraft. That last piece won the California Newspaper Assn.’s prize for best Business story of 2013.
Bill worked with David Cloud in 2011 on a series of stories about the U.S. drone war and has collaborated with Washington bureau reporters on several other pieces. He previously worked in D.C. for Legal Times.
Bill is a native of Chicago and graduated from Northern Illinois University before moving to Arizona for journalism school.
Josh Rottenberg
Josh Rottenberg, a veteran entertainment writer known for his artfully drawn profiles, is joining Calendar as a senior film reporter.
He joins our team of experienced reporters whose mission is to tell the stories behind Hollywood’s biggest movies and the people who create them, and will be a frequent contributor to Movies Now.
Josh has worked as a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly for the past decade, amassing an impressive collection of deeply reported cover stories, smart trend pieces and profiles brimming with wit and insight. A piece last month on Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit,” TV’s “Fargo”) captured the actor’s annoyance that the crew forgot he was a vegetarian (“Can that just be something people know about me after five months?” Freeman asked).
Josh also contributed frequently to EW.com. When big news broke and deadlines were short, Josh was someone to whom editors turned to deliver spot-on copy, including the cover story on Heath Ledger’s death, which was assigned to Josh just a few hours before the magazine was put to bed.
A graduate of Harvard, Josh started his career at Premiere magazine and was a contributing editor at Us Weekly. His stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Fast Company, Details, InStyle, and other publications.
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