LA Times hires two new tech reporters, one to cover media

The Los Angeles Times has named three new reporters for its business news desk.

Gautham Nagesh has been hired to cover technology. Until recently Nagesh was a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal in Detroit covering the auto industry, after spending the previous decade in Washington, D.C. covering the intersection of policy and technology.

Gautham joined the Journal’s Washington bureau in October 2013, where he covered the FCC, technology and media policy. Before that he was editor of the Technology Executive Briefing at CQ Roll Call, ran the Hillicon Valley blog for The Hill newspaper, and covered government contracting at Government Executive magazine while helping launch Nextgov.com.

He starts on Sept. 17.

Sam Dean has also been hired to cover technology. Dean previously worked as a staff writer at MEL Magazine, a Venice-based publication created by Dollar Shave Club. He has freelanced extensively at outlets including The Verge, Newsweek, T Magazine, 538 and Lucky Peach, writing on topics such as virtual reality, online advertising and a very famous bald eagle.

His first day is today.

Wendy Lee has been hired to digital media starting on Sept. 10.

Lee will cover the growing influence of tech giants like Apple, Google and Netflix on Hollywood, how studios are adapting to digital disruption and the rise of digital music companies such as Spotify.

Lee spent four years at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she covered such companies as Apple, Yahoo and Google. She previously worked as a business reporter at KPCC, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Tennessean, delving into the business of country music. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley.