Minority sports reporters

JK,

You'd be surprised the different lies hiring editors hide behind. I've known of newspapers that told certain people they couldn't hire them because it was a freeze...only for them to run out and hire someone else under their nose.

Besides, a lot of newspapers don't want to burn bridges with people. For whatever reason, they may not have seen you as a fit for one job, but want to keep you in mind for something else. So sometimes, yes, they rely on the convenient excuse of race to get that agenda accomplished.

And you should definitely care about who got the job if you were told they "had" to hire a minority. If you were told that and then they hired a white guy, that means you would be walking around with resentment for no reason. That would mean whatever editor said that appealed to a low common denominator to save his/her own ass.

 

How would they know what job I was fit for without having seen my resume and clips?

I've been told of nonexistent hiring freezes, too, but they had either already seen my stuff or asked me to go ahead and send it anyway.

And I don't know that resentment is the right word. Disappointed or disillusioned would be closer.

My only point is still that it's a complicated situation with no solution that I've seen or heard (yet), and that people who think they have it figured out or think those on either side of this debate have it made are probably wrong.

 

True story.

I'm black. Two years ago, I e-mailed an SE about a prep opening only to be told they already had a "good pool of qualified candidates" , so don't bother applying. So I apply at the nearest competitor and land the gig to find out later that the guy they hired was white and didn't even have a degree. He had interned there the previous summer and although they posted the job, they had no real intention of hiring anybody but him.

Well I'm still at the competing paper and I'm kicking the other paper's ass every day on an NFL beat. While I would like to have landed at the first gig (larger circulation), I'm glad I'm at the smaller paper (our sports section is WAY better - the best in the state, actually).

The moral of the story is that in this particular case, a minority was passed over for a white guy without them ever taking a look at my clips. I'm sure this sort of thing happens the other way around, too. But the statistics found in diversity studies just told us all what we've known for years.

 

There should be a law against hiring interns who don't yet have their degrees.

Not fair to the interns, for one.

 

I won't say the former intern isn't talented. But I'd put my stuff up against his any time.

 

Even if he is good, the paper should let him finish school rather than tempt him with a job before he's done.

 

I'm not sure that's an example of being passed over because you are a minority. You said it yourself. They were never going to hire anybody but the person they gave the job to, so they probably would have given you the same brush off if you were white.

Sometimes a reporter gets a job over more qualified candidates simply because he did a good job as an intern or part-timer. They get somebody they know who already knows how things work at that paper, and maybe save some money with a cheaper hire.

But in your place, I'd definitely take great pleasure in kicking their asses on a daily basis.

 

I agree. You should be proud. Now go out and kick some more competition ass.

 

Chickwriter, I will start this by saying I really appreciate your contribution to this discussion. You have a strong opinion, one that is different from mine, and you make it without the usual vitriol that pops up whenever this topic pops up.

But (you had to know that was coming) I find the argument that some editor would say they had to hire a minority just to save another candidate's feelings to be completely ridiculous. Telling a job candidate they didn't get a position because of their race or gender is just begging for trouble. And every single time I've heard that or a colleague has been told the same thing, the paper did go on to hire a minority or a woman.

Just accept that it happens. Papers sometimes go into the process of filling some positions knowing they will not even consider a white male, or perhaps they come to that conclusion during the process. And no matter how bad the percentages are, if you're refusing to look at a section of the population for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job, you are doing your own organization and some deserving job candidates a disservice.

 

There are papers out there that should be ashamed of themselves. I'll throw this in for an example. I believe that the paper in Albany, Ga., a town that is predominately African American, does not have a single African American on its editoral staff. In fact, I noticed that they nare now looking fora prep guy and I'm willing to bet that it won't be a person of color that gets the job. How can that be?

 

Are any minorities applying?
I mean, what's the numbers breakdown?
If a diverse candidate is anywhere near qulaified, I'd think he'd get a look from the supposed Klukkers over there in Albany.

 

sounds like this belongs on the knockin boots thread