Racism in the newsroom

Well, the press room guys at my shop do call the lone black man we employ "Token".

But, near as anyone can tell, he takes it good-naturedly.

 

i never saw any racism in newsrooms when i was a journalist. but now that i've been out of the business for awhile, it's clear that newsrooms were much less politically correct than most offices.

 

That happens more places than you may think still today. My question is what happens when they're married for 50 years? Many small papers will recognize that.

 

You think he feels like he has a choice?

 

Along those lines...

Years ago I had a news director who thought she was a guiding light of truth and understanding.

She hired someone she had known for years to be our new Executive Producer.  He was Japanese - in fact, he had spent time in an internment camp growing up.  Before he started she told me how close they were, and how it was their little joke that she would call him an "old Jap" and he would call her an "old bitch."

I'm sitting with him about a week after he started when she comes up and talks to us, then says "See you later, you old Jap!," and turns and walks away.

He turns to me and says "If she calls me 'Jap' one more time, I swear to God I'm gonna kick her in her fucking teeth."

 

Fenian --
I've posted about the guy before. The thing is, no one can understand a word he says, so I don't REALLY know. But I was being sarcastic in the earlier post.

That said, we've got quite the bigoted old guy who actually works in the newsroom, and I call him out about once a day. He ain't changing, but I at least let him know not to say stuff around me.

 

Even in a predominantly white area, I find it disturbing when a paper I have worked for hasn't had a minority of any kind in the newsroom since 1995. And this is not a particularly small paper. Of course, the ME hangs an angel over his office door during the holidays, so I wouldn't say PC is exactly in.