The PD is racist?

Hey, the Lions got in trouble for hiring Mariucci when the fact that he became available was the only reason they fired their coach in the first place.

 

I was going to bring that up, but I figured everyone else could connect the dots. That was a joke. The Lions actually made efforts to interview black candidates, too, simply to waste everyone's time and live by the letter of the rule.

 

From: Richard Prince's Journal-isms
Posted September 10, 2003

[Plain Dealer editor Doug] Clifton, who came to Cleveland in 1999 after being executive editor of the Miami Herald for eight years, said that Gitlin's figures about the Plain Dealer's hires are correct -- "It does reflect an interest in having a diverse workforce" -- but he notes that some of those hires have left for other papers.


The figures he refers to are Gitlin's assertion that as of 2003, the PD had not hired a full-time white male sportswriter from outside the staff since 1989, and that of the last 10 hires made, only one -- columnist Bud Shaw -- was a white male.


http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/030910_prince/

 

Brew covered the Eagles while he was at the Inquirer

 

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, the Plain Dealer had a black sports columnist who left less than 6 months ago, Roger Brown. I believe he was their TV/media sports columnist.

 

And he covered the Magic in Orlando for two years before getting a columnist slot.

 

I'm not sure what "dues" Rick Maese paid, but I'm not sure he has to keep an exact accounting of them, either. The guy's very good. His opinions are responsible and well stated. As far as I can tell, he has nothing to apologize for.
Generally speaking, I know this much: If you wish to castigate the hiring of established white male journalists, don't blame the white male applicants. What are they supposed to do? Step aside and let somebody else take the cash, thereby declining an opportunity to pay college tuition or parents' long-term care or whatever financial necessitites await them? Must they abdicate family responsibility in the name of satisfying others whom they have never met? I think not.
As things currently stand in this industry, the problem is not racism; it is corporate greed, which results in hiring freezes at best and firings at worst. You cannot attain diversity when you whack positions. OK, you theoretically can, but the only way to do it is to fire people based on race and gender, and I suspect litigation might result from such decisions.

 

Well said...

 

Thanks, Joe King.
Unless the PD made it a point to make minority hires unhappy enough to leave soon after they arrived, as a way of creating openings to fill with more minority hires and artificially look like an enlightened employer, it would seem that the paper -- or at least the sports department -- was doing its share. If they were excluding white males from the hiring process (such an admirable goal!), what more could anyone ask?

 

This has been a great discussion...

This will be my final point on this issue.

The many black sports reporters who I encounter and I know a lot of them. The universal theme is that the path to getting a column is through years of beat work.

I like Rick's work in Orlando and Baltimore. If there are exceptions made for him, there should be exceptions made for all. That's all.

 

As long as you know how to write at a top caliber.

 

They hired the best columnist in the state...

What's the problem?