Matt Laslo knows Washington. Inside and out. That’s why he fears vitality is prized more than sound, people-focused policymaking in our era of pop politics. Today’s 140-character Congress gives us much to despair about, but cynicism’s a lazy response to the real problems regularly scrolling across our screens. Grim as parts of our collective past may be, there’s hope in history. Matt uses stories from America’s storied political past as the spring board to understanding where today’s politicians, political press corps and an increasingly angry public fit in with — or stand out from — their predecessors.
Based on Capitol Hill, the veteran journalist has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006.
In 2019, WIRED magazine tapped Matt to fill in for a reporter on maternity leave, and he’s been a contributor since, covering everything from data privacy and crypto to Big Tech and UAPs (aka UFOs).
Matt’s data privacy coverage for WIRED has been quoted in 20+ law reviews, including the Duke Law and Technology Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, University of Illinois Chicago Law Review, etc. His Section 230 work is also quoted in FCC filings and books—like Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of Our Democracy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2022) or Internet Law (Grey House Publishing, 2020). It’s also assigned at NYU, UNC Chapel Hill, DePaul, UT Austin Law School, et.
Over the years, Matt’s also been a regular contributor with VICE News, VICE News Tonight (HBO), Rolling Stone, Raw Story, The Daily Beast and Playboy, et. His beats have included marijuana (including moderating Aspen Ideas Festival’s first-ever cannabis panel), coal, climate, oil and gas, Indian Country, gun violence, health care, mass incarceration, opioid crisis, horse racing, the intersection of music & politics, etc.
At the Capitol, Matt operates The LCB (Laslo Congressional Bureau) — a regionally focused, national wire service focused on serving political news deserts and assisting shrinking newsrooms nationwide. The LCB has served 65+ local NPR member stations, two Pulitzer Prize winning regional news outlets, alt-weeklies and online startups. From 2010-2015, Matt was the political correspondent for WAMU (DC’s NPR station), and his longtime client National Native News continues holding a special place in his heart.
Matt also founded Ask a Pol — a new, people-powered press corps.
Since 2009, Matt’s served on the board of the Regional Reporters Association where he helps represent the dwindling numbers of local reporters based in Washington.
In 2011, Matt graduated cum laude from the Johns Hopkins University’s MA in Government program — where he’s been an adjunct political communications professor since 2016. He’s taught journalism at Boston University (BA & MA) and the University of Maryland (BA). And he taught strategic public relations at George Washington University (MA) in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
He can be found on most all social media platforms as @MattLaslo.
He’s also reported for The Atlantic, Billboard, Campaigns and Elections Magazine, The Chattanooga Courier, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, Fast Company, GEN Medium, The Guardian (op-eds under his professor cap), The Metro (Philadelphia edition), MJ Biz Journal, NBC Think (non-partisan opinion vertical), Newsweek, The News of Delaware County, On Tap Magazine, The Omaha World-Herald, Outlaw Report, OZY.com, The Trace, This American Life, Thompson Reuters (op-eds), USA Today and Washingtonian Magazine, et.
Over the years, Matt’s proudly trained 45+ interns who have gone on to the likes of Atlanta-Journal and Constitution, Alaska Public Media, Virginia Public Radio, WGBH (Boston NPR), WBEZ (Chicago NPR), Columbus Business First, Columbus Dispatch, Cox Media, Hearst Television, CNN, Fox News, CBS, Wash. Post, NPR, Marketplace, Vermont Public Radio, Sunlight Foundation, WSKG (Binghamton, NY NPR), WUSA-TV (DC), Columbia Journalism School, Reuters, etc.
Matt’s also the creator and host of Bills & Brews.
Photo by Tom Williams