Matt Katz

Reporter, WNYC News

 

Matt Katz reports on air at WNYC about immigration, refugees, national security and hate. He covered New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for more than five years, first for The Philadelphia Inquirer and then for WNYC and New Jersey Public Radio. He followed the governor through scandal and presidential candidacy and appeared weekly on WNYC Studios' Christie Tracker Podcast.

In 2015 Matt and a team from WNYC won a Peabody Award for their coverage of Christie and the Bridgegate scandal. The series -- Chris Christie, White House Ambitions and the Abuse of Power -- was WNYC's first Peabody for news coverage since 1944. In 2016, Matt's biography of Christie -- American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge to Redemption -- was published by Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions. Matt's experience covering Christie also shaped his 2016 TedX talk, Political Deceit in a Social Media Age

Matt has written about politics for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic and POLITICO. Before covering the Statehouse in Trenton he spent time in Afghanistan, writing a series on reconstruction efforts for The Philadelphia Inquirer that won the Livingston Award for International Reporting for journalists under the age of 35. In 2009 his four-part investigation about Camden set the stage for an end to the state's takeover of city government. Prior to that, he was an award-winning reporter and syndicated dating columnist at The Courier-Post in New Jersey. He started his career covering local school board, zoning and council meetings for The Daily Record in New Jersey. 

Matt has two young children, Sadie and Reuben, who listen to a lot of WNYC. Find him on Twitter @mattkatz00Read more of Matt's latest reporting on Gothamist.

Matt Katz appears in the following:

This Week in Politics: Chris Christie 2024?

Friday, June 02, 2023

WNYC
After a bid that ended early in 2016, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to announce another run for president next week.

Comment

Three years after George Floyd, what has changed?

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

WNYC
Morning Edition Host Michael Hill speaks to Public Safety Reporter Matt Katz about which criminal justice reforms have taken hold since George Floyd was murdered, and which have not. 

Comment

Federal Monitor Says Chaos at Rikers Continues

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

The federal monitor released a report full of disturbing recent incidents at Rikers Island involving detainees and correction officers. 

New plaques give names to those buried at New York State prisons

Sunday, May 28, 2023

In New York, gravestones of people who died in prison only identified them by number. Now that's changing after a pastor and another formerly incarcerated man argued the dead deserved to be named.

Comment

NY prison graveyards must finally include names of the deceased on headstones

Monday, May 15, 2023

In recognition of the idea that people shouldn’t be defined by their periods of incarceration, state officials recently mandated that prisoner names be added to future gravestones. 

Comment

No charges yet for man who put Black homeless New Yorker in chokehold on the F train

Thursday, May 04, 2023

The death of a man who appeared to be suffering from mental illness on an F train on Monday is stirring outrage after a man who had placed him in a chokehold wasn’t charged by the NYPD.

Comment

'Un-Deported' After 20 Years

Tuesday, May 02, 2023

Matt Katz and Lindsay Nash talk about the case of Lorenzo Charles who was deported in 2003, but was able to successfully fight to undo the deportation and return to Brooklyn.

Deported 20 years ago, Brooklyn man’s extraordinary fight to return reaches an end

Monday, May 01, 2023

WNYC
After being deported, Lorenzo Charles, born in Guyana and raised in Brooklyn, fought for 20 years to return to Crown Heights — a place that he never stopped thinking of as home. 

Comments [1]

Jessica Valenti on Abortion Rights; NYPD's Robot Dogs; Slow Radical Change; The New Tipping Economy

Friday, April 14, 2023

Jessica Valenti on Abortion Rights; NYPD's Robot Dogs and Other New Tech; Making Radical Change, Slowly; The New Tipping Economy

Comments [17]

Researchers say supporting a few thousand repeat offenders could be the key to reducing crime in NYC

Monday, April 10, 2023

WNYC
Officials analyzing arrest data have identified a small group of repeat criminal defendants who, if properly monitored and supported, may present an opportunity to reduce street crime.

Comment

At this Bronx workshop, teenagers are taught how to de-escalate NYPD confrontations

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Kraig Lewis teaches teenagers the six Rs for interacting with police: Don’t run, don’t resist, right to an attorney, refuse all searches, refuse food, and the right to remain silent.

Comment

He integrated the NYPD more than 100 years ago, commencing a continued conversation on policing and race

Monday, February 27, 2023

WNYC
More than a century has passed since the first Black officer joined the New York City Police Department. Samuel Battle, a son of enslaved people, was born 150 years ago this year.

Comment

A man went missing after being detained by Paterson police. That's just one issue plaguing this department.

Wednesday, February 01, 2023

It’s been a year since a man went missing after being detained by police in Paterson, New Jersey. 

Comment

Hardly anyone gets arrested for prostitution anymore, so what’s the future of sex work in NYC?

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

There used to be tens of thousands of prostitution arrests in NYC. Now? About 100.

Comment

NYC detainee death rate is highest in 25 years

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Nineteen people had died in city custody or shortly after being released this year, out of an average daily population of nearly 6,000 people.

Comment

Close Rikers? Correction officials say they may have too many New Yorkers to incarcerate.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

The city anticipates locking up more and more people in the next couple of years. 

Comment

Bail was posted, but people weren’t immediately released, so now NYC must pay as much as $300 million

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

People were held more for than a day after their loved ones posted bail for their release.

Comment

Ukrainians Are Bracing For Winter

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Russia's intensified attacks on civilian infrastructure have left millions without power as the cold winter months begin. We hear how Ukrainians are dealing on the ground.

Comment

Doctor Burnout Impacts Quality of Care

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

A new study has found that a majority of primary care doctors are burnt out – and it's impacting the quality of care they’re able to provide.

Comment

Tech Journalist Alex Kantrowitz discusses Twitter

Monday, November 21, 2022

Tech journalist Alex Kantrowitz, Host of the Big Technology podcast and a contributor to CNBC, discusses an update on Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. 

Comment