Meet Dispatch business and local news editor Benjamin Lanka

(Editor's note: This article is part of a new weekly series featuring Columbus Dispatch journalists and their work in our community.)

The saying "All politics is local," can be easily transitioned to our industry: All news is local.

For while my youthful self may have dreamed of covering dramatic events in Washington or Europe, I've learned more and more that there are wonderful and critical stories happening right here that deserve our attention.

As one of The Dispatch's local news and business editors , I love finding those stories to share with central Ohio.

How did I get into journalism?

Looking back, it's interesting to see how connected I was to the local news scene from an early age. I delivered the weekly Worthington paper as a 9-year-old (is that even legal today?), I started a newsletter at Plain City Middle School after moving there and authored several stories for the Pioneer Press at Jonathan Alder (Please do not search for those clippings.)

I actually dreamed of being a sports broadcaster as a youth — going so far to search through the phone book to call people with the same last name of a local professional to get in contact with him for a school project. I soon realized that sports journalism meant working every night and weekend, so I got interested in covering local news.

After high school I attended the University of Dayton and then felt the need to spend more money on college and went to Northwestern for graduate school. Both experiences shaped the person and journalist I've become. For example, at Northwestern I spent a quarter in Washington that began in September 2001. Covering the fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, including a tour of the still in rubble Pentagon, is an experience I'll never forget.

What stories stick out to me?

I started as a professional writer covering local government and politics in Chillicothe where I did a story on the police chief approving his own overtime. I then moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to also cover local government and politics, where I was able to go "viral" for a story about the city not naming its new city hall after longtime former mayor Harry Baals — despite it being the overwhelming fan favorite in online polling. This reminded me of the campaign to call our local hockey team the Mad Cows, which honestly, would have been pretty great.

More importantly, I covered a mayoral candidate who was eventually indicted for not properly reporting campaign contributions, allowing a Democrat to win the seat in a highly conservative community. He held the seat for multiple terms — proving the importance of every election.

Upon moving back to central Ohio, I helped lead statewide coverage for many of the state's smaller daily newspapers and then took over direct control of the Newark Advocate and Marion Star for multiple years. There we examined the fallout of the opioid epidemic and the challenges the pandemic caused across the state.

This experience drove home the critical importance of local journalism and making sure people are aware of what their local officials are doing and also the good things happening in their communities. I think journalism is at its best when we give voice to the voiceless and hold those in power accountable.

What I do when I'm not working

I live with my wife in Westerville, where much of our time is spent transporting our two teenagers to and from extracurricular activities. Outside of family, I enjoy cycling and have participated in multiple Pelotonia rides. I also referee club and high school soccer because I don't get enough people yelling at me in my day job.

I enjoy wearing Hawaiian shirts, dad jokes and have an irrational fandom for the Columbus Crew and Dayton Flyers basketball, both of which occupy probably 90% of my social media posts. If I could change one societal norm, I would make midday naps an acceptable practice.

Most importantly, people often ask how we get stories, and the simple answer is from you, our readers. So if you have a tip you want to share, feel free to shoot me a line at blanka@dispatch.com. We truly love hearing from you.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Meet Dispatch business and local news editor Benjamin Lanka