Carla Bleiker

Born and raised in northern Germany, Carla Bleiker has spent several years living in different corners of the US. She spent a high school exchange year in rural Wisconsin and a college semester at Washington State University, before honing her reporting skills in New York City at Columbia University’s Journalism School.

Carla came to DW as a freelance reporter in 2013 and initially focused on German politics before joining the Science team. She especially enjoys going out to report from the ground, like she did when exploring the cutting edge technology of Europe’s first virtual film studio in person.

In 2019, she was sent further afield when she became the online reporter at DW’s Washington DC bureau. She covered politics in the capital and traveled the country to help audiences understand what made Americans tick ahead of the historic 2020 presidential elections. Carla spoke with Native Americans on a South Dakota reservation about the injustices they experience, joined a construction crew that started work at 3:30 am to escape the Arizona heat, and had champagne sprayed on her by Biden supporters celebrating his victory in front of the White House on November 7, 2020.

In 2023, Carla became a channel manager with DW’s startpage team in Bonn. While still working in science, she now also plans and coordinates the stories on dw.com with colleagues from different departments — giving her the chance to experience DW’s diversity firsthand every day.

In 2024 she returned to Washington DC to cover the presidential elections and spoke, among others, with former felons in Virginia fighting for their voting rights, and with anti-abortion activists voicing their excitement for an America under Donald Trump.