NABJ President Greg Lee calls out the journalism industry

Not our problem (as an industry).

 

Would you support putting a limit on the number of non-minorities that can be hired, as a way of jump-starting efforts to achieve greater diversity and fairness?

 

Let's get real. The college students who can make up those new metrics, can discuss injuries, or talk about sports majors aren't going to newspapers. They are smarter than that.

 

Two thoughts:

1) On the jobs board on this site, there are a number of jobs -- something like 19 --- posted in recent weeks. Most are in places like Macon or Lakeland or Grand Junction or Bakersfield. Is Greg Lee steering African-American candidates to these jobs, or only to the opening in Bristol? My experience -- similar to thoughts expressed above -- is that no minority journalists will apply for these jobs. Not that I blame them, but that is how I got into the business.

2) And speaking of Lee, has he brought any improvements to the sports section he has been running for a few months? I haven't seen the Sun-Sentinel lately.

 

We had a similar thread a week or so ago, so I won't repeat what I wrote then. But a few passages jumped out at me.

***There are only 37 black women working on these sports desks, a paltry 1.2 percent. How can you find the next Hill or Owens?

"Sports desks" at newspapers may very well NOT EXIST in five years. You'd think the fact that black women are more likely to avoid these dead-end, no-future jobs would be something Greg would celebrate rather than bemoan.

***Sure, there are programs such as the Sports Journalism Institute and the Chips Quinn Scholars programs that help feed the pipeline, but there are leaks in those pipes as people fall out of the industry because of a lack of development opportunities.

They "fall out" of the industry because our industry is DYING. And it's dying VERY RAPIDLY. And for the same reason that any minority candidate who can put two sentences together is on the fast-track to a job at a metro newspaper, those same minority candidates can get BETTER JOBS in industries that are growing, NOT DYING.

Sorry for the blunt talk, but I can't people this person actually works in the newspaper business. It's like he inhabits a different world than the one I'm living in.

 

Off topic: Soledad O'Brien is black??

 

What's a "sports desk?" ???

 

This same discussion comes up in other fields where entry level pay is low and the desire for diversity is present (teaching, law) and others. Basically, there are a small number of minority applicants. If people value diversity, this works to the benefit of those few applicants, as the diversity becomes a commodity like any skill set or thing of value, and they get a good paying job. This puts the small town newspaper/county prosecutors office/rural middle school in a bind....if you want a diverse workforce, should you be willing to pay for it? Should you pay a black journalist/teacher/lawyer more because he/she is a black journalist/teacher/lawyer? If no, good luck with diversity.

 

Her mom is black and Cuban.

 

I know of a couple who minorities have applied for jobs in places such as Lakeland and Grand Junction. They were well qualified and didn't receive a nibble. Why is something I can't answer but minorities are applying for less than glamorous positions.

 

No.