Karen Dewitt, voice of public radio in Albany, retires after 34 years

June 20, 2024 —

The trusted voice of public broadcasting in Albany is retiring. After 34 years as a reporter for the State Capitol, which is now the New York Public News Network, Karen Dewitt’s last day on the job is Friday.

Since 1990, Dewitt has covered six governors, countless budget disputes and scandals, keeping the citizens of upstate New York informed about what’s going on in their state government. She was also one of the few women in the Albany press corps for years.

Karen Dewitt on her 34-year career as a journalist at public broadcasting in Albany

Dewitt first caught the journalism bug at her high school’s television station outside Saratoga Springs. She told David Sommerstein that after graduating from college with a journalism degree, she set her sights on Albany. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

KAREN DEWITT: It was the early 1980s. Mario Cuomo was governor. He was a national figure, a larger than life figure. There was New York Mayor Ed Koch, who came to the Capitol quite often. The leaders of the legislature were big names. It just seemed really exciting and it was a place I wanted to work. So I went through the back door as a freelancer to 1010 WINS, the big, influential news station in New York City. I worked for a while for various magazines, including Adirondack Life. In 1990, the public broadcasting job opened up and boy, I did everything I could to get that job.

DAVID SOMMERSTEIN: So you’ve been in Albany ever since. What kind of stories do you like to cover the most? What kind of stories do you like to cover the least?

DEWITT: Well, I think anyone who listens to me probably knows by now that I like political dramas and political analysis that sort of play out politics. Because they’re doing it themselves. So it’s important that the public knows. And stories that get a lot of buzz, because we’re on the radio. And stories that are driven by characters – as I mentioned, people like Mario Cuomo, his son Andrew Cuomo, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson were strong personalities who really wrote their own stories.

I also like topics that are controversial and hard-fought. I’ve covered the disability rights movement over the years, the mental health rights movement, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2011. So I like exciting, dynamic topics.

My least favorite part is probably the budget stories. Some years they’re just endless. I even remember one year during the Great Recession when the budget was extended until August. That kind of stuff gets boring. You always have to remember that it’s important information. How do I keep it fresh for the listeners? I’m not sure I’ve always been successful.

SUMMERSTONE: Was there a really impactful or popular story that you did?

DEWITT: I guess it’s probably the big moments. Eliot Spitzer when he had to resign. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s implosion. Those daily COVID briefings where I was suddenly a supporting role on a live reality TV show every day. The whole thing was surreal. So I guess it’s the big things.

But I also think that if you are in the picture on a daily basis, you build things up over time, follow certain problems, see how people are empowered, get their rights and how changes happen.

SUMMERSTONE: Which governor was your favorite to cover? Is there anyone?

DEWITT: I don’t know. In hindsight, I liked them more! The further back in time, the more I like them! Probably Mario Cuomo. I was younger, maybe, and more naive. I found him very inspiring. He had a moral compass. In fact, one of the reasons he lost his fourth term – maybe he would have lost it anyway – was because he opposed the death penalty and stood up for those values, even though they were unpopular at the time and led to his downfall.

Another is George Pataki. We complained about him at the time, as reporters do, but he was actually a pretty good governor to cover. Note that the previous governors seem better in retrospect.

SUMMERSTONE: Let’s go behind the scenes a little and see what’s going on in Albany from a reporter’s perspective. How has reporting in Albany changed during your time there? How has access to these people changed?

DEWITT: Oh, my goodness, so much, David. When I first got here, Mario Cuomo held a press conference almost every day, sometimes two a day, and they lasted an hour. He answered all of our questions. We had much more access to the politicians. But since the Internet and social media came along, the politicians don’t need us reporters like they used to. They have their own social media feeds. They have their YouTube channels. They can craft the content however they want without those pesky reporters refuting their premises and finding the flaws in their argument.

I feel like we’re seeing them less and less as time goes on, even though I’m very closely connected to the legislature and the governor in this office here at the Capitol. For example, we just spoke with the Speaker of the (Assembly) today. He won’t let us into the back chamber where his offices are, where we used to be able to go and ask him a question when he came by. Now he’s coming to our offices. We haven’t spoken to him in a month and that just wouldn’t have happened ten or twenty years ago.

SUMMERSTONE: And there are far fewer reporters. You mentioned your office, where all the press works. There are far fewer people working in that office.

DEWITT: That’s true. I think when I started, there were 40 to 45 journalists, mostly men. I was one of maybe two women. So it was interesting growing up in a male culture, which I seem to have adapted to, but now there are fewer reporters. They’re young. A lot of women. That’s very cool. But there aren’t really the middle-aged, professional people, maybe in their 40s and 50s, who have the institutional knowledge. There’s a lot more turnover, a lot more younger people, and that’s not the younger people’s fault, but it just seems like you don’t really have the knowledge that’s so important to reporting on this issue.

SUMMERSTONE: You mentioned that you were a groundbreaking reporter in what was then a male-dominated journalism industry.

DEWITT: Well, I have to get that straight. There was a generation of women who were maybe ten years older than me. I would say they were the trailblazers for me. So I’m grateful to them.

SUMMERSTONE: How was that for you? How did you develop your self-confidence as a reporter?

DEWITT: It’s hard to remember. I guess I just kept going every day and tried not to be shy about asking questions. Of course, sometimes I was ignored. Occasionally I would pull the “woman card” and say, “Oh, can’t a woman ask questions?”, which made everyone really mad, but secretly I enjoyed it.

I’ll tell you a little anecdote about that office, David. When I first started here, I had one of the more nondescript desks because I was a nondescript young reporter. Near that desk, I would see the men coming and going and hear water running. Back then, there was a men’s urinal in the middle of the press room! Of course, there were no facilities for women. It’s hard to imagine now, but back then, people thought that was OK. And that was just another oddity I had to endure.

SUMMERSTONE: When I talk to you, I get the impression that you really have all this political machinations inside you. I wonder if that’s because it’s your job. Or do you really enjoy it and live for it?

DEWITT: Well, I have to say, I enjoyed it. I lived for it. I think the pandemic changed a lot of things for me, like it did for a lot of people. It just made me think about what I was doing with my life and stuff. I don’t think politics is as much fun as it used to be. It’s very polarized. People don’t respect the news media like they used to. A lot of people find their own facts on Facebook or TikTok or wherever. So I feel like we don’t have the influence that we used to have. Things just seem very chaotic, very messed up. So I have to say, I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to.

SUMMERSTONE: The folks here at NCPR have listened to you nearly every morning for more than thirty years. You may be wondering what else Karen DeWitt likes to do. What are your hobbies? What do you do when you’re not reporting from the Capitol?

DEWITT: I like to do a lot of things that your listeners probably like to do. I like to hike. Did you know that I’m a High Peaks 41er? (laughs) That shows that I haven’t accomplished much in the traditional sense. I didn’t do the five remaining ones that were the hardest, so I gave up (on becoming a 46er). I don’t like mountains that high anymore, but I do like hiking, biking, and I’m just getting into kayaking. That’s one of my summer resolutions when I have a bit of free time. I read, meet up with friends, do normal things, you know.

SUMMERSTONE: Well, Karen DeWitt, on behalf of our listeners for over 30 years, it’s incredible the stories you’ve told, the service you’ve provided to all of us by keeping us informed about what’s going on in our nation’s capital. We couldn’t be more grateful and wish you well in your retirement.

DEWITT: Thank you very much. This was truly the best job I have ever done.