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Carol Markowitz
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on iheartradio. My guest today is Harry Siegel Harry is, among other things, a lifelong Brooklynite, a senior editor at the Newsroom the City, a Moynihan Public Scholar at City College, the creator and a co host of FAK NYC and Lit NYC podcasts, and a longtime New York Daily News columnist. Hi, Harry, So nice to have you on.
Harry Siegel
Hey, Carol. Always great to see you.
Carol Markowitz
You have one of my favorite New York accents, like the one that I consider my part of Brooklyn New York accent.
Harry Siegel
Get outta here.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, I think when I hear you, you sound super familiar to me and like my childhood.
Harry Siegel
It's funny because everything is always on these. We like you grow up and you see six year olds dressing the way they thought was real cool when they were 19 and how they talk and then you talk that way and you don't realize it's all.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
Channeling this older stuff. Like when I grew up, there really was like a D's and does Brooklyn for sure.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
Much heavier accents. And I'm always trying on my podcast and whatnot to speak like uninflected English, like I was the queen or something.
Carol Markowitz
I don't think you're succeeding. Good luck with that though.
Harry Siegel
Apparently when I try, I sound much more inflected, so I've given up on that.
Carol Markowitz
Right. I would say that I worked on decreasing my New York accent, not because I didn't like it or anything, but because nobody understood me in Scotland and in Georgia and places that I lived. And now I kind of regret it because my brother still sounds super Brooklyn and I don't.
Harry Siegel
Do you ever get identified by voice as a New Yorker now?
Carol Markowitz
Never. No. In fact, when we first moved to Florida, when we were kind of doing like our Florida test run, my daughter was like, why does everyone sound like they're from New York except us? So tell me about how you got your start in this crazy thing of ours.
Harry Siegel
You've seen Goonies, right?
Carol Markowitz
I love Goonies. My youngest son is super into it right now.
Harry Siegel
Great movie. One of the joys of kids, of course, is getting to revisit all the stuff from when you were a kid again. See it with someone seeing with fresh eyes. But there's the great scene in Goonies where they got Chunk who, who's, you know, the pudgy kid, the. The ne. They're holding a blender behind it, but he thinks it's a chainsaw or something. And they say, tell us everything you know. And they mean, you know, about the treasure and the heist and the things that are relevant to the movie and Chunk starts One time, second grade, I peed in my pants. So.
Carol Markowitz
Tell us about the time you peed in your pants in second grade.
Harry Siegel
That's a different. That's a show. My resolution for this year is to figure out elevator pitches. But in some ways, I got into this thing of journalism and the news and all that just because of the house I grew up in. My dad, Fred Siegel, who's passed away now, was a professor and an academic and those things who got frustrated with some of the. The limits of the academy and feeling like the map wasn't matching the territory and all that. So when he was still teaching, he was a professor of history at Cooper Union in Manhattan. He started getting very involved in the New York political scene. And then he was writing a column for the Daily News, and he was editing this magazine, City Journal, and was involved in that world. And so I sort of grew up, skipped in a lot of this stuff without even quite knowing it or having any idea what I was doing in life necessarily. And then, long story very short, I graduated from college. I'm at sort of a total loss in life, not entirely together.
Carol Markowitz
Who among us?
Harry Siegel
You know, I'm still there at 48, and 25 years later, I break up with my girlfriend. 911 happens. And I'd been working my first job sort of around politics for this political consultant, you know, Hank Sheinkoff, for this candidate who was running for controller at the time, Bill Thompson. But I was working in the municipal archives, which were a weird, cool place, doing research. And the primary was supposed to be 9 11.
Carol Markowitz
Right. Oh, I remember very well looking for where to go vote in my new neighborhood.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And the morning of the primary, I was like, giving money to people to pass out flyers. Not sure if that's legal, but the statute of limitations is long gone.
Amazon One Medical Customer
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Carol Markowitz
Nobody's gonna come get you and someone.
Harry Siegel
Says there's a plane accident. I'm like, oh, boy, I better rush into the city. Says the trains are gonna get all screwed up.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And now making this a 911 story, I'll skip ahead. And this happens. I was in the city and I ended up doing some stuff, just volunteering around ground zero and all of that. And then left New York and went to visit a family member I'd never met before outside of Seattle.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Wow.
Harry Siegel
So I was all messed up and I d a handful of pieces, writing things here and there because I had some ideas, and it had a sort of interesting and peripatetic 5 boroughs life, and had no idea what I was doing. And it Was this new paper, the New York sun, starting, and they were interested in talking to me. And I took a train back to New York for the interview, and they stood me up.
Carol Markowitz
And what really they did. Seth Lipski.
Harry Siegel
Seth and Ira, indeed.
Carol Markowitz
Oh, wow.
Harry Siegel
And then I had a second interview and they were there. And I got this incredible job, like being on the editorial page, writing some of the editorials, like commissioning some of. And editing all of the op eds. It's like, so I can edit 3,000 words a day, lay it out in quark. Right. Because we're before the whole Internet thing here. Write some editorials and do all this stuff, and you'll pay me $32,000 a year. And I'm like, what a scam. And I can have all the books I want for free. And all I have to do is read them rapidly.
Carol Markowitz
That's always a plus. Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And review them, you know, I'm like, what an incredible job. And I get to call up powerful and interesting people and ask them questions. And they have to answer them at least.
Carol Markowitz
And entertain you, Right?
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And all I have to do in exchange for that is write it up in a really tight. Exactly. Shaped box. Intelligent. As if I had massive knowledge of all of the issues. Coming in with as much of that as possible. And I just loved it.
Carol Markowitz
It all sounds very good except for the $32,000 part.
Harry Siegel
But, yeah, they paid me $36,000 by accident. And then about three months in, they're like, well, we paid you too much by accident, so we're gonna dock your checks. And I kept working there. I'd been. Prior to that, I started this magazine with my friend Tim Marchman, who at the time was a clerk at the Strand bookstore and in Manhattan. And that was great because it meant I could get an employee discount on books.
Carol Markowitz
The best.
Harry Siegel
And. And I had all the. These sort of pals who. Who work there. I was an irresponsible young guy. So I did spend some time romancing all of the clerks at the Strand and getting my book discount. And we had a. An online magazine we'd started called New Partisan that was totally incoherent. It's just, let's do good and interesting things. And we'd been running that for a bit, and this came up at the Sun. I worked there and they gave me a couple of, like, I did good. So there was all these interesting characters who were there, and people were sort of recognizable in journalism now. So I was editing Arrow Lewis and Ben Smith was there.
Carol Markowitz
And it was a really good Era.
Harry Siegel
Yeah, it was wonderful. And I had no idea what I was doing and was just sort of thrilled. Like, I can't believe I'm in this sort of fascinating world. And one thing led to another, but I never. I never quite found my way out.
Carol Markowitz
And I guess my question to you for anybody who's listening. Harry mentioned his dad, Fred Siegel, who is. Who was just a legend in New York City, in the political world and in, you know, the writing world, the journalist world. How did you not think you were going to end up there? You seem so surprised. I mean, just based on who your dad is, it seemed like that was a natural path.
Harry Siegel
Fathers and sons, children and parents. It's complicated. Like, my dad, like, who's a very tough and aggressive guy and with me and my brothers in certain ways, and was also inordinately proud of everything we did.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
To the point where it was a little insane. So he had played college football. He was a very good basketball player. He'd hustled pool for a bit. Was like a really talented athlete.
Carol Markowitz
Love that. Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And not to brag, but I'm not.
Carol Markowitz
No bragging and.
Harry Siegel
But my dad was, like, utterly convinced. Like, oh, you know, from. From the pickout games we've played where I'd be the sixth best out of nine players. Like, you know, you probably could have gone pro and took tremendous pride in my accomplishments and my brother Jake's. And we rewarded that pride by being aggressive, very clear in everything he was wrong about in the world and arguing these things to death and without. Without full filters on this, you know, like, inside voice arguments and so forth.
Carol Markowitz
Right.
Harry Siegel
For years. And so the idea I was going to follow that part of his life didn't occur to me. The thing he wanted me to do, which he'd done, is he's like, you need to stay in school, get credentialed, and have that sort of stability in life. Which, 25 years into being a cranky journalist, always has at least two jobs so that nobody fully owns me and could tell me what to say or think. And not having that sort of stability of I'm teaching, I've sort of gone through these hurdles, and I have this protection, in hindsight, I have a lot of regrets about. But at the time, every time he's like, you need to do this. You know how this is with your kids. You can't help but say it. And the kids are like, you don't know what's going on. You don't know. Right.
Carol Markowitz
So what would have been the plan B? If this hadn't worked out, what would you have done instead?
Harry Siegel
I have literally no idea. You know, I was gonna. I was gonna be a novelist. I. I did a little, you know, kid stuff and then some drug selling and some this and some, some that and some restaurant work. And in hindsight, I really think maybe I should have been a postman and just had like a nice civil service thing and. And you can have all your big thoughts and ideas and about the world and not have to cross that over with. I need to have those ideas to eat and participate in those things. But I think that's a little bit sour grapes. One of the things I love about journalism is some of this normalizes and there's routines like with anything day to day, but there's always new questions, new challenges and new puzzles. You're figuring out like there's not some last level or plateau that you must reach. Some people sort of choose to plateau and that can be fine. I want to put this much into my work life and be bounded and I finish my banker's hours or whatever and here I am. But it's really a young person's game in a lot of ways. I'm realizing as I'm not so young, but I literally don't know what else I would do or would want to do. I love teaching and I've done a little of that, but don't just want to teach. I think a lot of what I have to teach is. It's not actually. Journalism isn't a field of study. And I tell everyone I teach journalism this and you should probably just go start writing and be in a paper.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I say the same thing and.
Harry Siegel
Stop studying or study something else. But being in these mixes, you know, a lot of the things, you know when you're. It's different person to person. When I was 20, I just had no idea about. And being able to sort of explain how this actually works.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
How the news is produced, what the compromises that go into that are and what the things you won't compromise are and how that plays out in practice. I think a lot about generational transmission these days, not just because of my own kids, but because we're in such a strange period with technology and AI and economic disruption. And I see all the things that aren't really getting. Getting passed out or like the cruddy institutions very much, including colleges that are doing. They're sort of holding on to what they have but doing less and less to actually pass on.
Carol Markowitz
Right.
Harry Siegel
Knowledge.
Carol Markowitz
And some of these things the kids, you know. Do you make TikToks?
Harry Siegel
No, and I don't think I'm on TikTok either. So I just see them as they show up in other feeds or whatever.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Same.
Harry Siegel
Right.
Carol Markowitz
Two weeks later on Instagram. So you said you might have wanted to write a novel. Do you think that you might still do that?
Harry Siegel
It's been the week I'm going to get it together for 25 years now and I've not.
Carol Markowitz
But this is a good week to get it together.
Harry Siegel
It is, but I haven't given up either and I'd love if I end up with the time and space to do that. My guess is I won't. Or if I do it'll be at a different phase in life and sort of as a hobby thing again, not something I want to eat off of or sort of stake myself to those ways. I feel like my kids are 13 and 11 now. So I've got about 10 years just thinking about stability, health insurance, college and.
Carol Markowitz
Then you could yolo, right?
Harry Siegel
Yeah. Or what's the other one? You either YOLO or you fafo and you don't find out until after.
Carol Markowitz
Could be either one. But you know, the kids these days, they really are not out at like that age. It's still what I hear from parents older than us because I also, My oldest is 15, I have 12 and 10. They don't leave at 18 and that's it. They stick around for a while. They stay on your phone plan and your Netflix password and all of that for a while.
Harry Siegel
I mean I was on my parents car insurance until definitely after having kids, maybe 40, and was otherwise like a very independent person. You have these little boons and take advantage and I think about that and I had some. The reason I got hired at the sun initially was they were scouting around. My dad said you should talk to my son. And I'd written some things and I did this and that was sort of the whole of the connection. And this wasn't a guaranteed job or thing or anything else, but it cracked open a door and then I burst through that door and I'd like to think all these years later I did all this.
Carol Markowitz
You did. You should absolutely feel that you did this.
Harry Siegel
But I did all this. I should feel a lot of that. But I remember both as like a son and a parano myself and all that. The like that door was cracked and at that point, as I said, I had no idea what I was doing in life and I would maybe not have even gone to that door otherwise. Or it might have been just a little more closed and I would have walked on into some other door. And, like, I'm very grateful to have had parents who were invested in me.
Carol Markowitz
I put you on their car insurance.
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Harry Siegel
Thank you, Mom.
Carol Markowitz
What are you most proud of in your life again?
Harry Siegel
I'm working on my elevator pitches, but I am inordinately proud of my children. I think they're just incredible Eric Adams wisdom. Perfectly imperfect.
Carol Markowitz
Thought you were gonna tell me you're proud of Eric Adams, which was gonna.
Harry Siegel
Be confusing and brilliant and very much their own people who I have responsibility for and I love, but are gonna go off and do their own things. And so far, these very fraught ages, and they all are in different ways, have, like, figured it out and risen to every challenge. And just seeing them grow and sometimes with help from me, and quite honestly, sometimes in spite of me, like, just makes me feel full and fruitful with the world.
Carol Markowitz
I love that.
Harry Siegel
Yeah. And with everything else, I just. I. You know, maybe this is why I keep doing the daily journalism thing. I'm just always turning over stones and what feels great in the morning, by the afternoon, I'm shaky about or what's next or what's wrong with this one. And I like having gotten somewhere and having done some things in the world, but I don't really care with me that way. Whereas with my kids, who, by the way, could definitely go, probably it just nothing but just, like, swelling with Pratt.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Love it.
Carol Markowitz
We're going to take a quick break and be right back on the Carol Markowitz Show.
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Carol Markowitz
Give us a five year out prediction can be about the country, the world, music, art, anything.
Harry Siegel
I think the bottom may be coming out all around and for all of us in a lot of different ways. And I'm upset and concerned about that. The other way I think about it is sort of a flood almost in biblical terms that's going to wash away a lot of what seemed permanent and held. And I do mean in the next five years. Thinking about this in terms of technology and then the effects that that I think is having on our politics and everything else. But just broadly speaking, I think a lot of the certainties we've had about our economic positions, our social positions in the world, how we treat other human beings, big, big stuff is much more fraught than it's felt. For me as somebody who grew up in sort of a golden age of America, a golden age for Jews in America, really good times. And my consolation in all that, and it's a big one, is I think without some of the same immediate imperatives to provide for and understand ourselves in the world, some beautiful new things may open up. It may just be utterly destructive and I'll have other problems and won't be around or won't have time to think about it if that's the case. But I'm hopeful that we might have a period where suddenly people can think and write very much on their own terms because there's no other reason to engage in those activities. People are going to have to be very focused on what's happening immediately around them in ways we've moved away from, and that some beautiful moments and opportunities might emerge from all that. So that's what I'm hoping.
Carol Markowitz
All right, that's a hopeful ending to that because it started kind of iffy there. I wasn't sure things were going to end on a high note.
Harry Siegel
I see mostly very dark clouds, but I am not dismissing silver linings and moments of big shift. Lots of things get lost for better and for worse. And it feels very painful for the people who've been through that or connected to the old empires, if you will. But there usually is something on the other end. And that something can be beautiful and good and healthier in certain ways. I love humanity, but I'm aware that we're like crooked timber. And the only thing worse than crooked timber are like the lunatics who would try to straighten it out entirely.
Carol Markowitz
Yes, Harry, I have loved this conversation. I've been a longtime fan of yours. I just Just think you're a fantastic writer and a fantastic human. Leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
Harry Siegel
I am not the right person to ask, but since you did, Carol, and I think you're actually a pretty awesome and incredible person, journalist and person in the world as well. I think being focused and concerned with the things that are around you is almost the whole thing. And by around you, I mean within sight and within reach. And that if you think about the really big and global questions that way and things that don't end at the end of your sight line, you end up in like a healthier and more honest place that way. And I think it's also a lot easier than to talk to other people who have totally different giant world views and all that stuff. But being present where you are is like the thing I found that has rewarded me the most in life. And conversely, when I fail to do that and I have a galaxy brain, sometimes thinking about giant things and you get lost.
Carol Markowitz
You got to come back to basics.
Harry Siegel
Yeah, yeah. Come back to basics and be where you are.
Carol Markowitz
I love it. He is Harry Siegel. Check out his podcast, FAQNYC and Lit nyc and read him in the Daily News, New York Daily News. Thank you, Harry.
Harry Siegel
Thank you, Carol. For the record, I wanted it to be faq. I wanted it to be FAC nyc.
Carol Markowitz
And then it was gonna be FAAC nyc. Okay, what the FAQ was gonna be the tagline. That sounds right.
Financial/Gold Investment Advertiser
Yeah.
Harry Siegel
And I love that and sometimes use that. But I've been forced by my partners.
Carol Markowitz
On the podcast, faq faqnyc. And is it litnyc?
Harry Siegel
I've been going back and forth on that because I can't figure out what LIT would be as an acronym.
Carol Markowitz
All right, check him out at FAQ Q NYC and Lit NYC podcast. Thank you, Harry.
Harry Siegel
Thanks so much, Gail.
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Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show (The Karol Markowicz Show episode)
Episode: Harry Siegel on Journalism, New York Media & Lessons From His Father
Date: January 16, 2026
Host: Karol Markowicz
Guest: Harry Siegel (Senior Editor, The City; co-host of FAQ NYC & Lit NYC podcasts; former New York Daily News columnist)
This episode features an engaging conversation between Karol Markowicz and journalist Harry Siegel. The discussion centers on Harry's path into journalism, the influence of his father Fred Siegel, the inner workings and evolution of New York media, generational lessons, and predictions for society’s near future. The episode blends personal anecdotes with insights about how journalism functions, the value of local institutions, and thoughts on raising children during uncertain times.
On finding a place in journalism:
"I get to call up powerful and interesting people and ask them questions. And they have to answer them at least." — Harry Siegel (09:01)
On generational transmission and disruption:
"I think a lot about generational transmission these days, not just because of my own kids, but because we’re in such a strange period with technology and AI and economic disruption." — Harry Siegel (14:42)
On parenthood as an achievement:
"I am inordinately proud of my children. I think they’re just incredible … perfectly imperfect ... seeing them grow … just makes me feel full and fruitful with the world." — Harry Siegel (18:03)
On the uncertain future:
"I think the bottom may be coming out all around and for all of us in a lot of different ways. ... But I’m hopeful that we might have a period where suddenly people can think and write very much on their own terms because there’s no other reason to engage in those activities." — Harry Siegel (23:42–24:25)
On presence and focus:
"Being focused and concerned with the things that are around you is almost the whole thing. ... Being present where you are is like the thing I found that has rewarded me the most in life." — Harry Siegel (26:11–27:09)
The episode is lively, insightful, and reflective, blending humor, nostalgia, and realism about journalism and life’s unpredictable pathways. Harry Siegel’s candor and knack for storytelling are matched by Karol Markowicz’s empathy and warmth, creating an atmosphere that is both unpretentious and rich with perspective—ideal listening for those interested in media, mentorship, and the meaning of legacy.