Jemele and Mike

Well, she walked straight off campus into a daily sports columnist job with the Detroit Free Press, despite never having written a single sports story before in her life.

But that was 20 years ago and it is what it is.

 

Jemele was very far from one of the country's best columnists. Or its worst, for that matter. TV is judged by such different standards it seems foolish to me to bring that up in any critique of her current work.

 

This is a good post, and I appreciate it.

 

20 years ago, I walked straight off campus into a daily sports beat with the National Post, despite never having written a single sports story before in my life.

Luck is a huge factor in a lot of careers. It was in mine. If someone sticks around for any length of time, however, it's not because they keep getting lucky.

EDIT: And I should point out that lots of talented, hard-working people don't get the lucky break that they need to get over the top.

 

Yep. However she got in the door, she's done ok since she started.

On the topic of the Free Press, I believe Albom had a very very minimal writing resume before he got his gig.

 

It's actually fairly gratifying to see you acknowledge this.

 

I don't think I've ever argued otherwise. I do believe that good work will eventually get you found, but most careers—like, really ascendant or "successful" ones in the traditional sense—exhibit at least one instance of big-time luck, usually in the form of an editor or boss taking a wild, undeserved chance on you.

 

The elephant in the room is her race and gender. But I'm as white as it gets and I recall getting called to interview for an NBA beat in my mid-20s off of some preps clips. (I didn't take the interview as I had already accepted another job. Good thing. Neither the newspaper nor the team still exist.)

It's like selling a house. All you need is one taker.

 

Just looked it up -- I never realized ESPN was Josh Elliott's first gig in TV.

He's kind of an amazing guy. He's been handed a series of amazing job opportunities and each time concluded they were somehow beneath him. He's perfectly OK at what he does, but he's also utterly replaceable. There are a few hundred early 40s talking heads who could trade places with him and viewers would barely notice.

 

@exmediahack, what do you think Jemele's salary is?

 

Luck (or misfortune - as we are in journalism) combined with opportunity.

Example.

2002. Paul Wellstone's plane goes down in upstate Minnesota. A colleague of mine was ten miles away doing some throwaway story to fill the newscast.

Our cheap ass station cell phones don't work in this area of the market.

The reporter hears the rumor of a plane crash while at a gas station. Someone says "I think it was Wellstone's plane."

She drives fifteen miles to the Walmart, plunks down $150 for a prepaid cell phone out of her own pocket. She starts making calls, greases a source for where to get close to the scene.

Seven hours later, she's on Larry King on CNN for ten minutes. CNN sent a photographer to fly there and do live shots. Millions saw it. Including a news director in a Top 15 market.

She gave her notice within a month to that market. Best $150 she ever spent.

 

No clue. But if I guessed -- 800k. She's probably got a top agent who handles the dirty work of contracts. Plus I bet she can command 20-25k a speech at colleges, etc.