Scoop Jackson's article from Espn the lack of black sports editors

I'd say any columnist job at ESPN is pretty high profile by any relative measure.

 

I, too, am bothered by stereotypes. Here are a couple:

1. Any writer over 50 is just mailing it in, ``content to churn out mediocre work.'' Guess what? Some older guys are still turning out quality stuff and working their asses off to do it. Why? Because they're professionals and they know what they're doing.

2. The older guys are all sitting on their ``thrones'' because of some sense of entitlement, keeping the young, potential fucking studs down. Hey, they don't want to wait until someone retires to move up. Well, maybe that older guy has been doing a good job for 30 years and, oh, I don't know, earned his way into a good position. And maybe he doesn't deserve to be shoved aside because he has the nerve to turn 50. Maybe when the young studs turn 50, they might like to be able to continue working until they retire.

Not all ``old white guys'' are lazy clods bent on keeping everyone else out of the business. Some are talented, experienced journalists who have been around the block a time or three and have a clue as to how to do the job.

Remember, someday that will be you. And me, in the not too distant future.

 

Hey, some of them are. Not all of them, but some of them. Nobody's generalizing, although the young studs held back by the older guys might have a tendency to look at it that way, through their own prism.
And of those who ARE mediocre and "mailing it in", chances are, it didn't just suddenly happen when they turned 50. It's not a switch you flip, no matter how powerful the union at your paper (and your job security it) is.
Good work is good work, at any age.
I think most of us are to the point where we can separate good work from poor work.

 

: : :

Of course there are high-profile writers whose talent doesn't match their pay or responsibility. But the thread was about Scoop and as I said earlier, he sucks.

Wilbon is an enjoyable read. Jason W. is, too. Rhoden? Ah, not so much, particularly given the publication that pays his salary. Don't even get me started on Mariotti and Lupica. But I do like some older white guys -- though not the ones mailing it in and standing in the way of the younger crowd. :

I like Wilbon and JW because each possesses a set of strengths that routinely comes through in the columns. Sometimes it's writing. Sometime's it is the ability to forcefully argue their point. Sometimes it's humor.

I don't care as much for Rhoden because his arguments tend to be muddled and, to be blunt, not well thought out or clearly conveyed.

Scoop? He can't write. He isn't funny. He can't put together a lucid argument regardless of the topic. Those are just a few of the reasons I think Soop sucks. It's not about the paycheck, his publication or my allegedly bruised ego.

 

I thought the thread was about the topic on which Scoop expounded, not Scoop himself.
But this IS SportsJournalists.com, after all. My bad. ;D

 

I don't really see the problem necessarily being about race. As a Hispanic journalist, I've found nothing but open doors and opportunity as I try and progress in this career. Never have I felt like I was discriminated against. In fact, the language ability has helped me to not only get extra stories, but add depth and color into stories that I'm already pursuing.

IMO, I think if more blacks expressed an interest about getting into journalism, then there would be more blacks in journalism careers.

 

For Scoop -- as for so many at the Worldwide Bleeder -- pandering to athletes pays. It's rewarded, all the way down the line . . .

 

I said "a lot."
Not "all."

Journalism is a lot like teaching, where there is no real exact science to evaluating. Even some of the best in the business (Whitlock, Rushin) have people who think they're hacks.
So, like teaching, moving up the ladder in journalism is a lot of being in the right place at the right time when a position is vacated and making contacts.
I happened to land at a quality newspaper through perfect timing and then working my way from 15 hours a week to full time over a five-year period -- when a lot of people around me told me I needed to do something else, go somewhere else, find another profession, etc. It's a path that worked for me. It's also one I wouldn't recommend to other aspiring journalists.

 

Not that I agree with Scoop, but he did go over the top a lot in the article, mostly just to make a point:

 

so now we know the official excuse...."i just said dumb $h*t to draw attention to the problem. look how everybody is talking about the issue and they wasn't before i wrote about it. i was just trying to get the conversation started."


i was born at night. but it wasn't last night. maybe all newspapers should hire kkk members as conversation starters/columnists?

 

The sad thing about Scoop's column is that much of the general public and the people he is targeting will actually buy it. We may see through it, but it still sets a lot of things backwards.