WSJ names Fritz its West Coast bureau chief

Ben Fritz has been named West Coast bureau chief for U.S. news at The Wall Street Journal.

In an announcement, U.S. coverage chief Emily Nelson wrote:

Ben brings the ability to chart dominating coverage and spot high-impact stories to the U.S. news leadership team. He takes on the leadership of a talented group of reporters who cover 14 states and four time zones. Ben will handle coverage of politics at a time of the West’s political revolt against Washington; immigration as the Southern border shapes policy; the extreme economies of a region with booming housing markets and homeless populations; religion, criminal justice and the environment.

Fritz has been covering the film business and media companies including Walt Disney Co. out of The Journal’s Los Angeles bureau.

He is also the author of “The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies,” about the dramatic shake-up of Hollywood this century that has made super-heroes, sequels and toy franchises inescapable. The book was published earlier this year.

Fritz joined The Journal in February 2013. Before that, he covered the film industry for the Los Angeles Times for nearly four years.

He also worked for Variety from June 2004 to February 2009, covering the film business, box office, corporate earnings, digital media, and video games for the venerable Hollywood newspaper.

He is a Swarthmore College graduate.