Meet Carl Weiser
Position at The Enquirer: Politics and business editor.
Why I became a journalist
I didn’t get into Ivy League Law Schools. A family friend suggested this trick: go to a “real” job for a year, then reapply to those law schools. I was unqualified and ended up being a reporter for the Watertown (NY) Daily Times. From the first day I wrote a story about tomato rot, I never thought about going back to law school.
What I like best about my job
Watch the audience devour my team’s stories, comment on those stories, share them, yell about them on social media, and take action based on them. The smart, curious, funny, iconoclastic pains in the ass that populate the newsroom that I miss terribly.
A story that I worked on had a lasting impact on me
When reporting on the Delaware County Council, I had to call one of the councilors about his response after discovering a small mistake on his part. His answer: “Off the record, no comment” was one of the stupidest quotes I’ve ever heard, a Möbius strip of stupidity.
What is the biggest challenge I face?
The problem that all local journalists face now and our democracy: the loss of local journalists. Every day in the greater Cincinnati area we have more stories than reporters. There are almost certainly hundreds of great local stories that go undetected and exposed – stories that will affect the lives of you, your family, or your neighbors. Fortunately, we are finding ways to cover this, most recently by working with nonprofits such as Report for America, who have given us a corps member to cover Northern Kentucky and soon butler, Warren and Clermont counties as well.
[ FROM THE EDITOR | Keeping us connected: It’s one reason journalism matters ]
What I like to do when I’m not working
Play Ultimate Frisbee and Pickleball. annoy my two college-age kids who’ve black-belted me; Root for my hometown of Buffalo Bills; Watch a lot more TikTok than a 55-year-old should.
Favorite Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky event or tradition
I like the little neighborhood events that Wyoming hosts (when there isn’t a pandemic): the annual Fall Festival where my daughter and her friend could rent a table for $ 10 to sell homemade cookies and handicrafts than they were younger; Light Up Wyoming, where we turn off lights and take horse-drawn carriage rides, eat cookies and listen to young musicians; and now our weekends drink outside in our village square.
Why journalism is important
Journalism – real journalism – is more important today than ever. Why? Because misinformation is now spreading faster, further and deeper than ever before. What people don’t understand is what mainstream journalists like those from Cincinnati.com do: we review, review, talk to stakeholders, review what is in the documents, preserve historical and national context so the reader can know what really happened and why it matters.
Carl Weiser moderates The Enquirer’s Greater Cincinnati Politics group on Facebook. Take part in the conversation here.
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