Report: Newspapers, websites lack diversity

One man's "dead weight" is another man's "knowing your history and knowing what the hell you're talking about". I'm more interested in dealing with people who can provide the latter qualities.

 

Since sarcasm seems to be the theme here...

It just so happens that a white male is always the right person for the job. Why is that so hard to see?

 

You have a point Play. Diversity has taken a back seat to survival in journalism. My point is that in 2011, the topic of newsroom diversity should have been settled at least two decades ago. It's just sad to see that it is still a touchy subject for many.

 

But it is reality. There are still people doing the hiring in this business who will not give a member of a minority a fair shot, or a woman in sports for that matter. And there are still other occasions where a white male has no shot at a job even if he is by far the most qualifies because that paper has decided it must make a diversity hire.

 

You and I and everybody else knows that isn't so.

What remains interesting is that it still appears that many, many minorities who could cut the mustard in this business have apparently seen the handwriting on the wall and have stepped lively in the direction of non-media careers.

 

The report is bullshit if all he does is look at the racial/gender percentage in the newsroom or a particular department.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 17 women who have come and gone through our department since I've been here.

Some left for another department. Some left the business. Several left for other papers or other media. We hired them. They just didn't stay.

A snapshot of our department today would show "3 women . . . hmmmm, you should be doing better."

That snapshot would be misleading as hell.

 

BT, with all due respect, in that snapshot of your newsroom today, are there many people of color?

 

Because, you know, color is the only diversity that matters.

 

In ours, yes.

 

The same was the case at the places where I worked. Women were hired all the time. Probably 75 percent were gone within a year, either quitting the business or transferring to another department. The other 25 percent stayed or were hired away by bigger papers/websites. The ones who got better jobs definitely deserved them. My last paper had a female on staff (in sports) for four months of the five years I was there.

 

Five in sports. Three in graphics. A dozen or so news/features reporters. One deputy managing editor. One news copy editor. One on editorial board.

Oh, and one senior vice president/director of content (the guy who will hire our paper's editor).

Other than that . . . nobody really.

 

Women are never going to be represented in a population such as sports journalism (irregular hours, etc.) as much as men. It can't happen. In case anybody at UCF has been paying attention, men and women are different. Women give birth to babies. This is a process that takes quite some time and often makes the woman/mother/professional re-evaluate things. In our society, men seldom make such decisions.