NABJ President Greg Lee calls out the journalism industry

National Association of Black Journalists President Greg Lee issues a torching statement about the industry's hiring practices.
http://www.nabj.org/news/118732/Industry-Must-Collectively-Build-the-Pool.htm

 

Because race should be a deciding factor in any and every hire.
Ugh.

 

Lee was on SJ a while back and he and Mizou had a fun little debate over the Washington Times hiring plans.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/posts/3006044/

 

Good times...

I'll sit this thread out...

 

From that thread, part of one of my posts:

Man, I had forgotten about that inside joke.

 

I thought Lee made some pretty good points with his statement.

 

I would like to know what the NABJ is doing to address the problem.

There is no way the industry could or would identify "unknown talented black journalists." There are a million conflicts with that.

But the NABJ could and should do that. I didn't see much in the article about what the NABJ is actually doing to help in that regard.

 

Ace, I'm a black journalist, and I'd say NABJ has been a tremendous asset throughout my career, as well as others I'm sure. You asked what they're doing about the problem. Well, NABJ isn't bullying anyone into hiring people of color. That's for sure. Hires obviously remain the decision of folks in charge of making them. Speaking from my own experience, NABJ definitely critiqued my stuff harshly back in the day, gave tips on how to improve, and introduced me to several great mentors (of all races). I promise the NABJ isn't just shoving minorities in folks' faces just for the sake of doing it. They want to make sure "qualified" candidates receive opportunities. I can definitely remember years ago being told by several editors (including Greg) and other reporters in NABJ, "you're not ready" back when I was trying to get a foot in the door at a metro. The truth is the numbers Greg writes about are real. Addressing the problem, however, is extremely difficult because race issues always trigger such emotional responses.

 

At our paper the last open sports position probably generated 100 applicants and I don't know that any were black.

 

I don't understand the need to develop and grow talent for the industry. Why does a hiring manager need to do that? There is talent aplenty, already groomed, maybe 50 experienced and solid people for every job.

 

Nothing really noteworthy here.

People in the position of a Greg Lee have to remind us every once in a while of their organization's existence and purpose. Easiest way to do that is to fire off a column that takes a high-profile individual's example and the latest numbers from the impressively prolific Richard Lapchick and friends, build up a nice head of steam that hints at fire and brimstone, and voila! Large Advocacy Group is "FIGHTING!!!!!" for its constituency.

Of course, I would argue that if there are very few minority applicants for newspaper jobs, it shows a lot of foresight and good judgment on the part of those who are not applying.