Kevin Roderick

Kevin Roderick is founder, publisher and editor of LA Observed, a website covering local media, politics, news and culture. A native Angeleno, he has reported extensively about the politics, culture and history of Los Angeles and California.

Roderick launched LA Observed in 2003, now widely read by journalists, media professionals, bloggers and politicians and regularly cited in national media.

Before launching LA Observed, Roderick was Los Angeles bureau chief for the Industry Standard magazine. He spent two decades as staff writer, state editor and senior editor at the Los Angeles Times, supervising award-winning projects and front page stories. He shared in two Pulitzer Prizes awarded for staff coverage while an editor on the Metro staff.

A contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine, Roderick's work has appeared in Smithsonian, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, C, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles and LA Architect.

He co-authored Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles, a Los Angeles Times bestseller and finalist for the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association book of the year honor.

His first book, The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb, won rave praise from California State Librarian Emeritus Kevin Starr and remains the leading work on the vast basin of 1.7 million inhabitants.

Roderick regularly appears in the media as a commentator on Los Angeles. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Business Journal as well as, NBC News, C-SPAN, NPR and American Public Media. He also appears regularly on local TV.

He has moderated programs for Zocalo and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and has been a journalism judge for PEN Center USA and the Online News Association. He is a former member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.

Roderick is the director of the UCLA Newsroom website.