{{short description|American journalist}} {{Infobox person | name = Erik Wemple | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | alma_mater = [[Hamilton College (New York)|Hamilton College]] | occupation = [[Media studies|Media critic]] | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Erik Wemple''' is an American journalist. He worked at ''[[The Washington Post]]'' from 2011 to 2025, TBD.com from 2010 to 2011, and was editor of the [[alternative weekly]] ''[[Washington City Paper]]'' from 2002 to 2010. He had worked as a journalist in the ''Paper'' previously. He joined ''[[The New York Times]]'' in September 2025.<ref name="lincoln2025">{{cite news |url=https://www.thewrap.com/erik-wemple-takes-washington-post-buyout-will-join-new-york-times/ |title=Media Columnist Erik Wemple Takes Washington Post Buyout, Will Join New York Times in September |first=Ross A. |last=Lincoln |date=July 30, 2025 }}</ref>
Since 2017, Wemple has been known for feuding with former Fox News host [[Tucker Carlson]] both on- and off-air.<ref>{{cite web |date=2017-02-15 |title=Tucker Carlson Accuses Washington Post of Running 'Russian Propaganda' as News (Video) |url=https://sg.news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-accuses-washington-post-running-russian-propaganda-142807265.html |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-SG}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Moore |first=Thomas |date=2021-04-21 |title=Tucker Carlson blasts Washington Post columnist |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/549438-tucker-carlson-blasts-washington-post-columnist/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=Tucker Carlson Tells Washington Post Writer To 'F**k Yourself' For Buckley Carlson Question |url=https://ca.news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-tells-washington-post-111619923.html?src=rss |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-CA}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Erik Wemple was one of three sons of [[Clark C. Wemple]], who served as a member of the [[New York State Assembly]] from 1966 to 1982.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 1, 1975 |title=the new york red book |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkredbook0000unse_q7h5/mode/1up?q=%22wemple%22 |publisher=williams press, inc. |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Wemple was raised in nearby [[Niskayuna, New York]].<ref>{{cite news |last=McGuire |first=Mark |date=2014-09-21 |title=Niskayuna native Wemple now a D.C. fixture |url=https://dailygazette.com/article/2014/09/21/niskayuna-native-dc-fixture?print |access-date=2016-12-21 |newspaper=Daily Gazette |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918054539/https://dailygazette.com/article/2014/09/21/niskayuna-native-dc-fixture?print |url-status=dead }}</ref> He attended [[Hamilton College]] in [[Clinton, Oneida County, New York]], and graduated in 1986.<ref>{{cite web |last=Denoon |first=Maggie |date=2020-02-17 |title=TEDxHamiltonCollege Tackles Political Divide |url=https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/tedx-political-divide-wemple-bromberg |access-date=2020-05-26 |website=Hamilton College}}</ref>
==Career== Wemple began contributing articles to the ''[[Washington City Paper]]'' in the late 1990s. From January 1999 to November 2000 he wrote the paper's political column, "[[Loose Lips (column)|Loose Lips]]", before becoming editor.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewPerson?oid=oid%3A7408|title=Erik Wemple|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194254/http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewPerson?oid=oid%3A7408|archive-date=September 27, 2007}} Brief biography in the ''People Directory'' of the [[Association of Alternative Newsweeklies]] (AAN) (incl. hyperlinked archive to "In the News" articles by and about Wemple and his AAN award and honorable mention.)</ref> Previously, he was Washington correspondent for ''[[Inside.com]]'' and ''CableWorld'' magazine.<ref name=bio/>
In 2004, the [[Association of Alternative Newsweeklies]] awarded Wemple and [[Josh Levin]] an Alternative Newsweekly Award for their article "Off Target", published in ''Washington City Paper''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://aan.org/aan/alternative-newsweekly-award-winners-announced/|title=Alternative Newsweekly Award Winners Announced|date=2004-06-27|work=Association of Alternative Newsmedia|access-date=2018-09-18|language=en-US}}</ref>
In June 2006, Wemple accepted the [[editor-in-chief]] position at ''[[The Village Voice]]''. A month later, he announced he would not assume the position, stating that "the paper's ownership and I have failed to come to terms in our many discussions about moving forward, particularly with respect to newsroom management."<ref name="bio" /><ref name="Rich">Motoko Rich, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/nyregion/16voice.html "Before He Moves In, The Village Voice's Editor Moves On"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 16, 2006, accessed April 11, 2008.</ref>
In February 2010, Wemple informed the staff of the ''Washington City Paper'' that he was leaving to be the new editor of TBD.com.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/washington-city-paper-editor-erik-wemple-is-leaving-the-paper/Article?oid=1833775|title=Washington City Paper Editor Erik Wemple is Leaving the Paper|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref>
In 2013, J. K. Trotter of [[Gawker Media]] declared Wemple a "hero", and that "like a deeply embedded anthropologist, Wemple scours Washington media (and, not infrequently, their New York counterparts) for hypocrisy, excess, and corruption. He's the anti-[[Michael Allen (journalist)|Mike Allen]], frequently piercing the Politico's madman's self-inflating bubble of hype at the moment it threatens to blot out the sun."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trotter.kinja.com/gawker-heroes-erik-wemple-1487165883|title=Gawker Heroes: Erik Wemple|author=J.K. Trotter|work=J.K. Trotter|access-date=5 November 2014|archive-date=5 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105094455/http://trotter.kinja.com/gawker-heroes-erik-wemple-1487165883|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In February 2017, Wemple appeared on [[Tucker Carlson]]'s show to discuss media bias. Carlson criticized Wemple in this interview for not covering mistakes made by ''[[The Washington Post]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tucker Carlson Accuses Washington Post of Running 'Russian Propaganda' as News (Video) |url=https://www.thewrap.com/tucker-carlson-accuses-washington-post-of-running-russian-propaganda-as-news-video/ |date=2017-02-15 |access-date=2022-10-05 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tucker Carlson Accuses Washington Post of Running 'Russian Propaganda' as News (Video) |url=https://sg.style.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-accuses-washington-post-running-russian-propaganda-142807265.html |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=sg.style.yahoo.com |date=15 February 2017 |language=en-SG}}</ref> In 2021, Carlson criticized Wemple for contacting several of his college classmates and attempting to find "naughty" things he had done when he was 19. Carlson compared Wemple's investigation into him to politicians investigating their opponents' past scandals.<ref>{{cite web |last=Moore |first=Thomas |date=2021-04-21 |title=Tucker Carlson blasts Washington Post columnist |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/549438-tucker-carlson-blasts-washington-post-columnist/ |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2022, Wemple wrote an opinion column about the allegations of nepotism against Carlson's son, Buckley Carlson. When reached for comment, Tucker Carlson responded: "normal people understand it’s wrong to go after a man's family, but you don't because you're a soulless ghoul who literally works for [[Jeff Bezos]]. Go fuck yourself".<ref>{{cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=Tucker Carlson Tells Washington Post Writer To 'F**k Yourself' For Buckley Carlson Question |url=https://ca.news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-tells-washington-post-111619923.html?src=rss |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-CA}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wemple |first=Erik |date=2022-10-24 |title=Opinion {{!}} Tucker Carlson, megalomaniac |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/24/tucker-carlson-emmer-anonymous-quote-overreach/ |access-date=2024-08-17 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
Major turnover affected the ''Post'' in 2025, with many staffers and journalists leaving. Wemple was one of the journalists who accepted a buyout, leaving at the end of July. He began to work for ''[[The New York Times]]'' as a media critic in September 2025, although still out of Washington, DC.<ref name="lincoln2025" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/by/erik-wemple |title=Erik Wemple |newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref>
== Personal life == Wemple is married to Stephanie Mencimer, who, as of 2018, worked as a staff reporter in the Washington office of ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-mark-judge-high-school-drunk-allegation-alcohol/|title=Brett Kavanaugh's high school friend isn't helping the nominee's case|work=Mother Jones|access-date=2018-09-18 }}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * [https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/erik-wemple/ Erik Wemple at ''The Washington Post''] *{{C-SPAN|108918}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wemple, Erik}} [[Category:1964 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Hamilton College (New York) alumni]] [[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Writers from Schenectady, New York]] [[Category:The Washington Post people]] [[Category:The New York Times journalists]] [[Category:Journalists from New York (state)]] [[Category:20th-century American journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American newspaper editors]] [[Category:American media critics]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:20th-century American male journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American male journalists]]