James Wagner is a sports journalist for the Washington Post and has been working at the Post since August 2010.

He is a native of Virginia and son of South Lakes history teacher Jim Wagner.

Wagner’s interest for journalism started as a kid.

“I moved around a lot as a kid,” Wagner said. “I read a lot, a lot of newspapers.”

Neither of Wagner’s parents are journalists or had any experience in journalism other than reading the news. Wagner credits his interest in journalism to reading often when he was a kid.

Before the Post, Wagner worked at his college newspaper. He also worked at the LA Times for seven to eight months. After the LA Times, Wagner worked for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.  He also freelanced for the Wall Street Journal.

Currently, Wagner is covering the Washington Nationals baseball team. Since they are still in preseason, his day mostly consists of looking ahead for potential stories, reading up on the latest news and making phone calls.

“The games are at night,” Wagner said. “I usually follow up the next day for the story.”

Wagner credits his interest in sports journalism to the fact that he has always been a fan.

“What sports is the best example of is everyone working together as a team,” Wagner said. “You can get very emotional stories from sports.”

Wagner’s favorite part about journalism is holding people accountable.

“When I was covering news, I would hold public officials accountable for the people,” Wagner said. “It was always pretty fun to hold people accountable to finding new and interesting stories.”

Looking a few years to the future, Wagner remains optimistic about the journalistic profession.

“There will always be a form of newspaper,” said Wagner. “There will always a hunger for news. People need to know what is going on.”

Read Wagner’s bio on The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/james-wagner/2011/05/05/AFxWMwAG_page.html