Rob L. Wagner
Rob L. Wagner is an American documentary filmmaker and journalist covering Middle East issues, particularly political and social topics in Saudi Arabia. His documentaries focus on history. In 2015 he was the Saudi Arabia correspondent for the London-based The Arab Weekly newspaper. He previous served as managing editor of the Arab News, an English-language daily newspaper based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Gazette, a competitor of the Arab News. Wagner was also the top editor of Construction Week magazine in Dubai and is the author of numerous history books.
Career
Wagner, who grew up in Sierra Madre, California, began his journalism career in 1974 at the now-defunct Monrovia Daily News-Post as a copy boy and later worked as sports editor for the Hollywood Daily Independent. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a police and courts reporter for the Ontario, California Daily Report and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. At the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, California, he was managing editor. He also worked as a freelance writing on legal affairs issues for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and true crime stories for True Detective magazine. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Hollywood Bohemia: The Roots of Progressive Politics in Rob Wagner's Script, Red Ink, White Lies: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles Newspapers, Sleeping Giant: An Illustrated History of California's Inland Empire contributing author for the academic textbook Opposing Viewpoints: Islam, Vol. 2. and "Witness to a Century: The Inland Valley.Wagner is married to Saudi journalist and educator Dr. Sabria Jawhar.
Filmmaking
In 2023, Wagner directed "Searching for Halifax NP711", a documentary film about a Royal Canadian Air Force crew shot down and killed during a bombing raid over Germany in 1945. The film has garnered first place honors for Best Documentary at the Fern Film Awards, the Critic's Choice Award for Best Documentary at the World Film Carnival in Singapore, Best Documentary at the Eastern Europe Film Festival and Best Debut Director at the Brandenburg International Film Festival in Germany. He also directed a film on Glasgow's Necropolis cemetery. He is engaged as executive producer of a film report on the generational progress of Saudi women in the workplace.Saudi Gazette and Arab News
In 2004, Wagner resigned as an editor at The Record to become the national editor of the Saudi Gazette, an English-language daily newspaper based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He later became the newspaper's managing editor. As managing editor, he supervised the coverage of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s bombing and shooting attacks of Westerners and Saudi government institutions, and Saudi Arabia's 2005 municipal elections among other issues. He also taught journalism courses to Saudi university students. In 2008, he assumed the editorship of the Dubai-based Construction Week magazine to cover the building boom in the United Arab Emirates.In 2012, he returned to Saudi Arabia to assume the post of managing editor at the Arab News.