Michael D. Shear.

Reporter. Chief U.K. correspondent for The New York Times, based in London. Author, with Julie Hirschfeld Davis, of Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration.

Currently

Michael D. Shear is the chief U.K. correspondent for The New York Times. From London, he covers politics and diplomacy across the United Kingdom, British society and culture, and the impact of the Trump administration on the United Kingdom and the world.²

Career

Shear joined The Times in 2010, where he served for many years as a White House correspondent.¹ Before that, he spent eighteen years at The Washington Post, covering local, state, and national politics — most prominently the 2008 presidential campaign and the early Obama transition.

At The Times, he reported across three administrations from the West Wing — covering presidential decision-making, executive action, and life inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In 2025, he assumed his new posting in London.

Beats & coverage

Shear’s reporting focuses on:

• Domestic policy and the regulatory state
• Immigration — including the border, asylum, and refugee policy
• The presidency and the West Wing’s decision-making
• U.K. politics, diplomacy, and society
• The transatlantic effects of American politics

Book

Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration, co-authored with Julie Hirschfeld Davis, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2019.³ It draws on years of reporting to chronicle the Trump administration’s effort to remake U.S. immigration policy and the people — most prominently Stephen Miller — who designed and pushed it through.

Read more on the Border Wars page.

Recognition

Shear was a leading member of the New York Times team awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.¹

Education

• Claremont McKenna College — A.B., 1990
• Harvard Kennedy School — Master in Public Policy

Contact

Email: michael.shear@nytimes.com
X / Twitter: @shearm
Anonymous tips to The Times: nytimes.com/tips