Dave Zweifel, longtime editor of The (Madison) Capital Times, was recently interviewed by student reporters for the first episode of “Hard Questions,” a new series of podcasts and video interviews published by the Simpson Street Free Press.
During the interview, Zweifel talks about starting a newspaper in New Glarus when he was 13 years old. A few years after he started publishing the mimeographed weekly with 150 subscribers, The Capital Times decided to write a story about Zweifel and his paper.
“In an era when so many newspapers are crowding the conservative middle of the road, the hard-hitting, slam-bang editorial approach of a 16-year-old New Glarus ‘editor and publisher’ is a refreshing throwback to the aggressive journalism of old,” wrote Hal J. Roche of The Capital Times.
The experience was accompanied by an invitation from the paper’s founder and editor William T. Evjue to visit him anytime — an opportunity Zweifel jumped at and, eventually, leveraged into a reporting position. Zweifel went on to serve as editor of The Capital Times, where he is currently editor emeritus. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2011.
During the SSPF interview, Zweifel also discusses his first year as a reporter, Wisconsin’s open records law, the importance of learning to write, and a proposal to make serving on the Madison City Council a full-time job.
