The Race Card is pulled in Ohio

I think the issue is a bit deeper. I believe they are questioning the lack of African American writers covering sports overall in the Ohio sports scene.

 

I gotta say, I covered the Ohio high school track and field championships last weekend and I don't recall seeing an African American reporter from any of the newspapers covering the event. And I'd imagine most dailies had someone there in Columbus.

 

I think you will see this in most professional occupations. The pool of qualified candidates is just not as deep. There are some, to be sure. But take this board, for instance. What's the breakdown? (I have no idea, just curious.)

I certainly wouldn't suggest that black candidates for a reporter's position automatically go to the front of the line.

At the last five papers I've worked at, we've had a total of one African-American in the newsroom. Not just sports, but the entire newsroom.

 

Exactly. That comment struck me as particularly ridiculous. Somebody needs to explain to this guy that you can't always judge somebody's family financial history by the color of his skin.

 

I'm not sure how much stock we can take in something like this when everyone is losing their jobs, not just minorities.
Once the dust settles a bit, I think this should be more of a concern. But for now, sadly, it is what it is.
I am curious to see how one of those APSE breakdowns would turn out right now.

 

And that's not anything this industry, which prides itself on dogging out other industries with poor minority hiring, should be proud of.

 

Hey, just curious what qualifies Windhorst as "one of the best beat writers in the country." I need to know what makes this guy the gold standard. Not arguing yet that he isn't. But I've watched the battle between him and Branson for years and my score card had Branson ahead by a bunch. Even recently, Windhorst had LeBron out of town on vacation while Branson had video of dude at an even in Cleveland. But hey we all know things can be subjective.

Branson was and still is one of the best beat writers in Cleveland. Nobody in the Cleveland market is more connected than dude and certainly No One at the PD can make that claim. I am not sure all the sinister stuff people are claiming but I do know when I read Wright's stories I usually came away with good information. Windhorst seems to be getting killed on the national LeBron stuff and all that is going on with the Cavs. Hell one of the small papers broke the Izzo stuff, I believe.

Now as for the subject of this link, why are there no African-American sports writers covering prominent beats in Ohio. That is pretty obvious. But I've never been too comfortable suggesting that African Americans needed to cover sports because of their race. I've seen African Americans do credible jobs covering soccer, golf, auto racing and tennis as well I've seen some white writers do a decent job on the NBA and NFL. The key is being able to relate to your subjects and not being afraid to talk to them.

 

Just a point of clarification, there was one African-American at the OHSAA state track meet, Donald Emmons of the Toledo Blade.